Output Voltages

To: "'Tesla List'" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Subject: Output Voltages
From: Tesla List <tesla-at-stic-dot-net>
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 1998 10:28:26 -0600
Approved: tesla-at-stic-dot-net

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From:  Robert W. Stephens [SMTP:rwstephens-at-headwaters-dot-com]
Sent:  Friday, February 06, 1998 8:15 PM
To:  Tesla List
Subject:  Re: Output Voltages

Richard Hull wrote:
<Major snippage>
> I have used special antennaed electrometers to monitor storm and air
> electrical gradients.  I can definitely state that a distant lightning
> stroke sucks juice from the local environment to feed the huge distant
> gradients.  The local gradient in a receeding or approaching storm will rise
> slowly and then leap to a quick peak (charging of the local air) This peak
> can be as high as several thousand volts/meter! At the instant of the stroke
> two miles away, the local gradient will instantly drop to a perfect zero!  A
> stroke feeds on a lot of surrounding charged air.
> 
> Richard Hull, TCBOR

Richard, All,

I was at the CFRB transmitter site near the northern shore of Lake 
Ontario last year while a violent lightning storm passed overhead.  
Jeff Wiggins, also on this list was with me.  The antenna farm 
consisted of about 6 live towers up on base insulators, each with many guy 
wires.  Each guy wire was broken up (for RF purposes as top not 
resonate) with inline porcelain insulators.  These individual 
sections of guy wires were therefore insulated and at their varying 
heights, could equalize themselves to the average field gradient 
existing at their particular altitudes above ground.

As we stood under cover rather near to the north end of the antenna 
farm we could hear the sounds of individual guy line insulators 
flashing over at random as the field intensity in the area increased. 
Then, at the same moment as we visually saw a lightning stroke occur 
and I'm gonna guess even 5 miles away or more, SNAP!, every goddamn 
guy wire insulator in the entire antenna farm broke over in a very 
precise and instantaneous corus!  This was observed for both 
cloud-to-cloud, as well as cloud-to-ground strokes, both near and 
still visually evident but far!  

This was the first time I had ever been witness to the atmospheric 
effects of static electricity on this scale before and was amazed at 
the same time as I was able to correlate it to the distributed 
instantaneous E- field effects which large disruptive discharge Tesla coils (and 
yes even small ones) have on their local environment.  I was left 
with a powerful, impressive and lasting impression of that event.

While there I also *heard* the sound of a leader shooting away and 
upwards from one of the towers (at least this is what I think it 
was).  It had the outranging type echo and crackle you get from a typical stroke, 
but much quieter in volume.  I saw no visible effect, and only put 
this explanation together after hearing only the sound.
Jeff, you want to reinforce or otherwise comment on this interesting 
experience?  : )

Ahhhh, sharing fond memories in Ontario,

Robert W. Stephens
Director
Lindsay Scientific Co.
RR1 Shelburne, ON Canada L0N-1S5
Tel: 1-519-925-1771   Fax: 
*Custom built Tesla coils, etc., for museum display 
 and special effects work.
*Canada's largest publicly accessible wall-to-wall
 indoor lightning show...by appointment.
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 educational/entertaining Theatre of Electricity.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inquiries welcomed! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~