Over Quenching?

["J. B. Weazle McCreath" <weazle-at-hurontel.on.ca> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Hello Coilers;

I've been playing around with various cap values/primary turns
on my coil which is powered by a 6 KV, 500 mA. radar tranny.
The changes require re-tuning after each change as expected,
but I've also noted that the sound of both the RQ gap and
the streamers off the topload sound more ragged and have a
lower tone when I use the larger cap, fewer turns setup.

The first configuration is .0033 uF. and about 11.5 turns
while the second configuration is .016 uF. and around
6.5 turns on the primary.

Is it possible that I may be over quenching the RQ gap when I
have the larger value cap in use?  I'm using an old Filter
Queen motor/compressor to draw air thru the gaps between the
pipe sections, with it running full tilt.  I'm going to try
to borrow a smaller variac so that I can thottle down the
the air flow, but I'd be interested in hearing any comments
you fellows can offer in the meantime.


73, Weazle, VE3EAR/VE3WZL

Listening: 147.030+ and 442.075+
E-mail:    weazle-at-hurontel.on.ca
           or ve3ear-at-rac.ca
Web site:  www.hurontel.on.ca/~weazle