Re: New York Teslathon - Urban coiling issues

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

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Mddeming-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 6/6/01 1:48:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
writes: 


>
> Original poster: "Vanderputten, Gary by way of Terry Fritz < 
> twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <gvp-at-pvaintl-dot-com> 
>
> I am a coiler from NY,  Brooklyn, to be exact. My first coil was in 
> 1959, and not much activity until last month. My, have things changed. 
> These threads have been just the best. Thank you all. 
>
> So, while on the subject of coiling in cities, especially in apartment 
> buildings, I have several questions regarding my intended development of 
> a 6kv/60 ma/360 watt, 3.5x15" desk top coil with purchased caps and pipe 
> stationary gap.  I like to think that is a small to modest coil, but do 
> not want to minimize the impact that it could have on my other 
> electronics and computers as well as my neighbors. 
>
> 1) Is there a safe and unobtrusive way to operate coils in an apartment 
> building? I have built a "Gary Lau" style protection circuit for the 
> tranny. RF grounding is an issue. I have access to the building's cold 
> water mains and drains, and even its I-beam infrastructure. However, 
> just gapping the NST without caps froze my MAC (I kept it unplugged 
> now). 
>
> 2) Most of the time this coil will be operated with enough power to 
> throw a 6" arc in the basement of a building in a residential area. I 
> have no way of gauging the rf noise to neighbors from such a coil. The 
> AC is a dedicated line from the street and away from the reset of the 
> building's mains. For RF ground I have access to,  within 50', a  4" 
> storm drain, cold water mains, and the entire steam heating system. 
> Any suggestions appreciated. 
>
> Gary



Hi Gary, All! 
        As A former Brooklyn boy myself (from the Heights, yet) I can 
empathize with your problems.  Grounding: Storm Drain = OK; water pipes = 
possibly a no-no, unless your connection is very close to where it passes 
into earth. Steam heat System = major NO. If there is one insulating flange 
in the heating system, someone WILL get zapped! My first coil was run on the 
roof of the building (a.k.a. tar beach) and was resonant at 455KHz, which 
meant that almost everyone picked it up on their AM Radios! Make sure that 
you are not on this frequency (227.5KHz is probably not all that great 
either.) 
        If your looking for other possible Coilers and Geek-types, the 
largest H.S. collection in NYC,  is probably at my Alma Mater, in recent 
years moved to 345 Chambers Street, NY, NY 10282. 

Matt D. (Stuy '62)