Re: Tesla Coil Blunderbusses

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Malcolm Watts by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <m.j.watts-at-massey.ac.nz>

Hi John,

On 7 Apr 01, at 11:33, Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>"
> <FutureT-at-aol-dot-com>
> 
> In a message dated 4/6/01 10:15:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:
> 
> >   
> >   I still can't believe that the added resistance has any measurable
> >  effect on the resonant frequency of a secondary which has a high
> >  enough loaded Q to couple any useful power from the primary.  
> 
> Ed, all,
> 
> You're probably correct.
> 
> >  As for lowering the resonant
> >  frequency of the primary, that may be required for maximum power
> >  transfer when the loading increases, even without streamers.  I
> >  should look up my notes on the subject but have been too lazy.
> 
> Oh that's an interesting thought.  I hadn't heard about that before,
> about needing to lower the primary resonant frequency for max power
> transfer, even without streamers.  I'd be glad to hear more details
> about this either from you or someone else.
> 
> Thanks
> John Freau

I have seen exactly that effect. I started with a smoothly running 
coil, then tuned the primary down to enhance the lower sideband 
response. Operation went from smooth to erratic but the sparks 
increased considerably in length (about 20% from memory).

Regards,
malcolm