Re: Re:TESLA COILS are ILLEGAL!

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

Original poster: "cd by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <vbprg1-at-hotmail-dot-com>

I am a recent first time coiler and my research led me to this data
which may or may not be entirely actuate

An ungrounded Tesla coil is basically the same thing as a 1/4 wave spark gap
transmitter...
used in early radio... and made illegal in or around 1927....
I not a ham radio guy... but Im pretty sure its ok to transmit in certain
bandwidth ranges(the very very low unused ranges I think...)

(sort of unrelated but)
Anyone know about Rogers Radio system for transmitting Radio through the
ground...
Used heavily in world war 1 or 2 not sure which, but military posts would
set up camp and dig a hole to bury their antenna.....One of those forgotten
inventions...(or maybe hushed up)

anyway
A grounded tesla coil on the other hand is legal, because it drops the RF
into the ground instead of transmitting the interference out and about...

Also I have been conducting area of field effect tests with my coil and a
florescent light bulb.
I believe I have a decent ground set up. a copper pipe driven about 5 feet
into the ground and wetted down thoroughly before coil operation. I have yet
to operate a coil without a ground(don't think I want to... I'm not that
crazy), but all of my light bulb tests seem to indicate there is a major
drop off in field effect. at about 3 feet from my coil. Meaning at about 3
feet the light will no longer light up...Im assuming all "Major"
interference associated with devices would end at this point. Considering my
friend used his Cell phone at about 12-15 feet from the operating coil with
no ill effects.
I realize that radio frequency interference may travel a lot  further than
the electric field induction effect, but I have to wonder.
How the heck was he jamming radio transmissions to a stereo????
Did he just not ground the TC at all?? or just attach it to some foil laying
on the concrete?
Or did he attach it to an antenna pointed at the neighbor? (Scary Idea)

I am assuming the air port guy could have saved himself a fine
by constructing a decent grounding system and shunting
 RF noise down into wet soil....

When I run my coil....
My only real concern(other than electric shock) is wondering if the
Doppler 5 ground radar is going off.. Radar designed to pick up local ground
strikes and ground level rain effects...
Also Im wondering
if someone is listening to the frequency of lightning...(You can hear
lighting from all over the earth at a certain frequency)... Would they hear
our coils running? Maybe not my little one but one of you guys Big BadAss
pole pig  coils?

Chris Dowdy


----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Saturday, July 13, 2002 11:07 PM
Subject: Re:TESLA COILS are ILLEGAL!


> Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>
>
> Hi Dan,
>
> Of course, your friend was supposed to have listened to the "first"
warning ;-)
>
> No doubt, his TC has some poor grounding or other problem that was
allowing
> it to radiate irritating signals to the people at the airport.  The FCC
> specializes in "fixing" things like that...  Perhaps he could have solved
> the problem and made everyone happy while continuing to run it.  Tesla
> coils are not illegal, but "any" device that interferes with others is.
It
> is the resposiblity of the owner to stop the interference.  Tesla coils
can
> be made to be very 'stealthy' when needed.
>
> I had a friend who was using a TC to jam his neighbor's stereo 24-7...  He
> got spotted too...  But really, you have to be considerate of others when
> doing such things.  99% of us have no problems at all and the ones that do
> run into seriuos trouble, seem to be asking for it.
>
> Of course, a giant electrical storm running in someones back yard at the
> end of an airport runway is going to attract some special attention.  But
> that is one of those "special" places that TC should probably not be run
at.
>
> So basically, if anyone says your Tesla coil is bothering them, you had
> better fix it.  Most of the time it is prety easy to do.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Terry
>
>
> At 11:32 PM 7/13/2002 -0400, you wrote:
> >Tesla coils are ILLEGAL anyways when operating outside a sealed EMI
> >environment.  A friend of mine received numerous warnings and even a
hefty
> >fine once from the FCC for operating his tesla coil.  Of course he lived
> >near a local airport, but it is still illegal period!
> >
> >> The learning curve, construction labor, financing, and component
> >acquisition
> >> keep the general public at large from getting into tesla coiling. The
> >> concept of a low voltage tesla coils might make building tesla coils
too
> >> easy. With 38 foot arcs dancing in many backyards, tesla coils might be
> >> banned from many towns, which is what happened with fireworks.
> >>
> >> Godfrey Loudner
> >>
> >> > -----Original Message-----
> >> > From: Tesla list [SMTP:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
> >> > Sent: Saturday, July 13, 2002 6:43 PM
> >> > To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
> >> > Subject: Low Voltage Tesla Coils
> >> >
> >> > Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > 1.7 x SQRT(36000 x 2) = 38 foot arcs!!!!  From 100 amp three phase
> >208...
> >> > Without the need for a tranny, it might weigh 100 pounds!!  Maybe you
> >> > could
> >> > send it UPS... :-))   Not even a spark gap motor anymore...
> >> > Terry
> >> >
> >>
> >>
>
>
>