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FW: SoCal Teslathon 2000 was a GREAT TIME!


---Intro
Brian and I are proud to announce that the SoCal Teslathon 2000 was a great
success.  I don't have the official stats, but there were about 20 coils on
display, 2
pulse capacitor experiments, 2 Van DeGraff generators, a big Jacobs ladder,
and some interesting Neon art.

Everyone was safe and we managed to run all 20 coils at the same time.
This HAS to be some sort of new record!  We were pulling 195 amps (on a 200A
panel) during the free-fire event.

We also want to thank everyone for the donations.  After the out-of-pocket
costs were reimbursed, we were able to donate the remaining $126 to Chip
Atkinson for the recent upgrades to the Tesla Coil Mailing List machine.

---Layout
This year's electrical ground consisted of 5 ground rods in a horse shoe
shaped pattern that stretched about 80ft by 40ft.
All 5 ground rods were connected with 200ft of solid 4 ga copper wire.  A
200A sub-panel was installed in the middle of the back yard.  Several
thousands of gallons of water were sprayed out across the desert soil to
keep dust to a minimum, and food tables and grills were laid out.

The layout was a little different this year in that the operators and power
control hardware was all located inside the "horse shoe" and the spectators
were allowed to roam around the outer perimeter.  This removed the
possibility of a spectator accidentally making contact with exposed 110V or
220V wiring.

---Schedule
Around 3PM, other coils started joining Brian's coil, my coil, and the
cage-of-death.  The pulse cap experiments were set up in an isolated corner
of the back yard.  All of the tabletop coils were set up along the fence
line.  We lit the fire on the grills at 5PM and made quick work of 100+
hamburgers, many packs of hotdogs, and a plethora of desserts, chips, and
other goodies.  The chatter of the crowd was occasionally broken by the
sound of exploding wires or work coils on the quarter shrinker.

As dusk approached, we made a brief safety announcement and started
tuning coils 2 or 3 at a time.  After everyone was in-tune, each coiler had
an opportunity to demonstrate their coil while Jeff Parisse presented a
brief description and pointed out the unique attributes of each machine.
The
next event was truly the highlight of my coiling experience - the Teslathon
Free-Fire!  After a 5 second countdown, all 20+ coils were operated at the
same time.  It was truly wonderful to stand in the center of all those coils
and see writhing arcs no matter where you looked.  This treat was repeated
about
4 times before the night ended.  In between
free-fire events, we were able to give about 10 daring souls an arc-filled
trip in the "cage of death" (a 6 ft high Faraday cage constructed by Brian)
I really lack the writing skills to adequately describe the sense of wonder
that was felt by all on Saturday night.  Keep an eye out for some of the
time-exposure photographs that are bound to show up.  They will tell the
real story.  http://users.better-dot-org/roverstreet/teslathon_2000/

Nikola Tesla would have been proud!

---Thanks
First and foremost, I want to express thanks to all the coilers and
participants who made SoCal Teslathon 2000 such a wonderful event.
At the risk of missing someone, I want to take a few minutes to thank those
who really worked hard.
* Kevin Ottalini helped out with the ground system and helped us set up.
*Jeff Parisse of kVA (www.teslacoil-dot-com) did a super job as our announcer
* Bruce Basura kept everyone safe by operating the sub-panel and only
applying power when everyone was clear.
* Alan & Tom for helped set up.
* Debbie, Mo, Mike, and Bruce helped with food prep.
* Beth Ford handed out name tags and collected the donations.
* Trent Mullins offered hundred of lbs of NSTs for sale at a BIG discount.
  Trent also sold neon wands that are handy for HV experimentation.  Trent
  can be contacted at neontrent-at-earthlink-dot-net
*Alberta Chu offered her Electrum videos at a discounted rate.  It is a
"must
  have" for any serious coiler.  Alberta may be contacted at
http://www.futureculture-dot-org/

I plan to update the SoCal Teslathon 2000 page as pictures begin to trickle
in.   I'll happily accept scanned images, digital pics, links to your sites,
or any additional data or ideas that anyone has to offer.


Thanks,
Ross Overstreet
Brian Basura