Am I missing something here?...

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

Original poster: The MCP <ejkeever-at-comcast-dot-net> 

Alright, I've setup the coil as described and even though I've confirmed
through an oscilloscope that it's resonating, I still get nothing even
beginning to approach the claims that it will shoot 17 inch sparks.

I've the the 5000/20 NST attached to two 2nF/40Kv doorknob caps in parallel,
for a total of 4nF. From there, I have a single static spark gap which is two
.5 inch copper pipe elbows which are basically impaled on screws and
rotatable, and the primary coil which is 4 turns of .25 inch copper tube,
with turns averaging 1 to 2 inches apart (It's a little messy right now, just
sitting on the floor bare) which tunes when tapped around 2.5 or 3.5 if I add
the third doorknob cap (Whew - I'd get marked down for a runon if this were a
test).

The secondary coil is 26 gauge copper magnet wire wound around a 3 inch ABS
plastic form, about 18-20 inches wound. One side is connected to a wire
running to an earth ground, which is a steel rod pounded about 1.5 feet into
the ground, the other (since I don't have any real topload) is ~10 inches of
wire from the end, wound into a little coil .75 inches in diameter.

This arrangement produces streamers going about 3 inches into the air, and
going maybe another half inch to anything you get close enough. I haven't
taken exact measurements, but it doesn't take a ruler to realize that this
coil is NOT generating foot-long sparks.

Where am I going wrong? Do I need to ground the primary equipment to the same
earth ground as depicted in some schematics?

On a rather ridiculous side note, what would happen if one were to take the
5000 kilometers of wire necessary to make a coil that would have a natural
resonant frequency of 60Hz and drive a primary by simply hooking it directly
into the mains? Or if you were to go a step further and connect it to the
cross-country 340Kv lines?