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FIRST TRY

 * Original msg to: Lisanap-at-cats.ucsc.edu
 * Carbons sent to: Kukkonen-at-snakemail.hut.fi

Quoting Mark Napier:

 MN> Today I finally put power to my coil. Nothing.  Spark gaps   
 MN> are firing well and seem to be quenching okay.  I am not     
 MN> going to get worried until I get my ground rods set          
 MN> properly.  The water pipe did nothing so I ran out and       
 MN> bought two 3/4" x 8' copper pipes.  Did not dig a hole       
 MN> before trying to pound them in. I couldn't get them more     
 MN> than 5 1/2' in the ground. #^%&*%^!! Oh well.  

It is not your ground that is a problem. You are out of tune. 
Get a bare fluorescent or neon tube. Hold it (better still mount
it) near the discharge terminal. Move your primary tap around
(coil off!) and look at the intensity of the glow in the tube:
brighter = closer in tune, dimmer means farther away (play the
old "hot-cold" game). When you get your tank circuit oscillating
at close to the resonate frequency of the coil, then you will
start to see corona and sparks from the discharger.

 MN> I've got my gaps at .030". Is that okay to start? (Four      
 MN> welding gaps in series) 

Four gaps or four electrodes? If your gaps are set at .030
inches, then you need four to six actual gaps (or 8 - 12
electrodes) to get your tank circuit voltage up to where the coil
will discharge. If you have four electrodes = two gaps, then you
do not have enough gap distance to effectively pulse the tank
circuit.

 MN> Where on the net can I find a copy of UUDecode?  I really
 MN> want to see your photos.

I would suggest you contact Kristian Ukkonen, he is the resident
expert on files and has set up the TESLA directory at the ftp
site for our files. I send him copies of all the Tesla files.

  E-Mail:   kukkonen-at-snakemail.hut.fi

Richard Quick
... If all else fails... Throw another megavolt across it!
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12