RE: First Firing since 1999: The Glorious odor...

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

Original poster: "Dave Hartwick by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <ddhartwick-at-earthlink-dot-net>

Greg,
While coiling in the garage, I reached a threshold where I finally figured
out how to make a coil work properly. Suddenly, I was getting much longer
spark than I anticipated and an arc struck the garage door opener antenna,
frying the PCB control board. I'm not alone in that one.

I then moved operations to the basement where I used the concrete floor hot
water heating pipes for a ground. It was a this point that I destroyed the
front end of my RS DX-390 receiver--no direct strike, I think the radio with
antenna deployed was about 20 feet from my 6" coil running at 3+ kW. Sinply
too much field for the sensitive FETs, which were easily replaced.

That doesn't exactly add up to half the household appliances--guess I was a
bit hyperbolic. In any case, the damage to these items could have easily
been avoided.

At one point, during basement ops (where I am now--that's where the piglet
is), my wife saw sparks emanating from the living room floor near the TV
(1999 sessions). I really had no idea this was going on. I shielded the
basement ceiling after that, needless to say.

So now I know a lot more than I did about the pernicious nature of the Tesla
generated RF field, especially at the over ~2 kW range. I unplug anything
that may be sensitive--computers for example. Phone line pulled from DSL
modem, etc.

[I must sound like a careless fool, but I'm really not, I don't think. I've
got an Extra-Class ham license! Oh well.]

I'm not sure about the quality of my basement ground--hot water pipes
imbedded in the concrete slab floor. I would think this would make a very
good counterpoise style ground at least, but I believe the pipes are
connected to the AC house ground. I know this can be a problem if the ground
is excessively energized, but aren't most earth grounds going to ultimately
connect to house ground?

I know that the physics of grounding are somewhat complex, and I'm aware of
the symptoms of a poor ground--low Q, mushy operation. RQ was obsessed with
grounding, probably properly so.
I must wonder, however, if a dedicated ground right outside the basement
window would actually offer superior isolation from the house AC ground, and
thus less excitation?

The hot water pipes through the concrete floor are extensive, culminating in
a manifold at which point I make the connection.
Dave H



Dave,

Nice story. Richard Hull has moved onto desktop fusion research, and
has not been coiling for some time. Richard Quick has
just "disappeared". I don't know where he is, or what he does. I tried
his old email address to no avail. If you ever get hold of him, I'd
love to know. I miss his no-nonsense advice. His 10" coil was the most
impressive (for its power and size) that I have seen. What appliances
has your coil destroyed? And what were the conditions (distance from
coil, plugged in or not, etc)?


Cheers,

Greg Peters