first run

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: first run
From: "Alan Yang" <ayang01-at-earthlink-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)
Date: Sun, 05 Sep 1999 13:02:12 -0600
Approved: twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net
Delivered-To: fixup-tesla-at-pupman-dot-com-at-fixme

hi all,
	tonight, i just completed my first tesla coil. Luckily it worked the first
time i ran it and i eventually got a 31" spark hitting the strike rail after
soem fiddling around. About 20 minutes after running the coil, i gotta scare
since a DWP service truck pulled up right in front of my house.. luckily
they were checking up on a leak in the water mains and not something w/ the
electricity.. whew.:)
	I'm currently using a bank of NSTs paralleled to get 15/90 and a .016uF
cap for it. The primary is 10/1/2 turns of 1/4" copper tubing seperated by
1/4". The secondary is 6x25" w/ about 950 turns on it. My static spark gap
is really messed up and is a flat unquenched one w/ a max gap of .210". For
tonight's run, i used a torroid that's about 15"diameter(rough estimate).
	Does anyone have any suggestons on how i can improve spark length w/ what i
have?( i know that the first thing i'm replacing on this tesla coil is my
spark gap w/ a RQ style one once i get the time to build that since school
starts soon for me.
thanks,
annoying neighbors w/ loud mysterious noises..
-alan