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How with no RF ground?
Quoting Bob Schumann <tesla-at-america-dot-com>:
> My house is old and all plugs are just 2 prong with no 3rd plug
> for ground. When I remodeled my bathroom I hammered a ground
> rod out back and ran a ground cable into a newly placed 3 prong
> fixture in my bathroom. Recently in testing my TC before I
> dismantled it for final construction, I was getting 14" sparks
> from a 9kv-at-30ma transformer. I ran an extension cord/box from
> my bathroom and was using the 3rd prong of my extension box as
> my RF ground connection to my coil. Yesterday I took the plate
> off the wall in my bathroom to look at the wiring when I
> noticed that the ground cable had broke away from the wall
> socket long ago. So in my testing, I actually never had an RF
> ground at all! I do not understand how I could have gotten the
> output I did without this ground.
In the absence of an RF ground at the base of the resonator a
voltage will rise. This voltage will be sufficient to bridge a
gap of an inch or two without a problem. Also, RF current from
the base of a coil "crawls" across semiconductors such as
concrete, painted metal, dirt, etc., and if given the opportunity
it will find it's way to an RF ground (though not perhaps to one
of your choosing). The RF base current also radiates away in
instances where insulated counterpoises are employed, or where
the ground path is long and tenuous leading to a weak ground
(50 feet of #10 copper leading to a three foot ground rod buried
in dry sandy soil).
Suffice to say that you likely had some unwanted electrical
disturbances in the box. Reason No.42 why not to the third wire
in the 60 cycle wiring to ground your coil.
Richard Quick
... If all else fails... Throw another megavolt across it!
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12