Please Advise

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

Original poster: "Emmett Secrest" <secrest2032-at-msn-dot-com> 

First let me say Happy New Year to everyone on the list. I added a second 
NST and additional caps to my coil tonight. I had to decrease the tap point 
from the 7th turn to the 5th for estimated best performance. I am getting 
roughly 5' streamers with frequent strikes to the strike rail. I had one 
primary hit but it didn't cause any damage.  I repositioned my strike rail 
and did not get any further strikes to the primary. I have not changed my 
coupling or Toroid. I get multiple streamers of 4 to 5 feet and in quick 
succession. My question is whether I should increase the size of the 
Toroid?  I presently have one  that is d=4 D=16.  Please correct me if I am 
wrong but it seems I read that if there are lots of streamers being 
produced it means the breakout voltage required for the Toroid is small 
compared to the amount of voltage being delivered. If this is the case, 
then wouldn't a larger Toroid have a higher breakout voltage point and then 
for a given voltage supply produce less numbers of streamers that are 
longer?  I was considering making a d=6 by D=16 Toroid.  Any suggestions as 
to a better size would be appreciated.  These are the spec's on my coil:

(2) 12/60 NST's
(2) strings of eight .15 uF LTR 2600v MMC's
RQ Gap w/ fan ( 3 gaps of 1/8" each)
15 turn primary of .25" cu tubing w/ .25" spacing between turns
4.5 dia. secondary  22.5" winding length/ 22 AWG
pri. even with bottom of sec winding
2.5 spacing between pri. and sec.
bottom of Toroid 1" above top winding of sec.

Thanks for your help.  It is due to everyone's kind assistance that I have 
successfully built my first coil and I am sure that with your help I will 
get the bugs out of my recent upgrade.


Emmett