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Coupling test



cc: tesla-at-grendel.objinc-dot-com

Richard,

I'm not sure you received this the first time so I am re-sending it.

I had four pieces of plastic made 1.0" thick and 8.0" in dia.  I placed all
four under the secondary to raise it up and loosen the coupling.  This seems
to have eliminated all the corona problems - I don't see any.  I think I did
loose some intensity in the secondary discharges.  I will try it again with
only three discs (3.0" elevation).  This shouldn't make it necessary to
retune the system - correct?

I did notice a new problem and I'm not sure what it is.  As I turn the power
up, the gaps start firing and before breakout I hear a muffled pop sort of
noise (my wife calls it a "poof sound"), kind of like a small muffled
explosion.  It sounds like I might have discharges inside the secondary coil
form.  It is sealed, the wire never goes inside and I have a small hole in
the center in the botttom plate to equalize air pressure.  Maybe it is
comming from the rotary spark gap, it is in a box which could account for the
muffled sound.  I also hear this sound sometimes when I am getting discharges
from the toroid - at full power.  I need to find this, it sounds like
something is going to get damaged.

Can we talk about toroid height again?  I realize the correct height for a
particular system must be found empirically.  What symptoms would I see if it
is too low?  If it is too high?

By the way, I am now using a new H.P. VL2 486/66 computer instead of my old
Macintosh.  Now I will be able to use all the DOS utilities that everyone
else uses for uuencode and for GIF files.  Also I can read the disc that you
sent me.

Thanks,  Ed Sonderman