New to List

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Paul B. Brodie" <pbbrodie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hello All,
I am relatively new to coiling and brand new to this list. Should I 
inadvertently violate etiquette, please excuse me as I have never 
participated with a list before. As a little background, I have a BS in 
Computer Science and am self taught as far as electronics. I have read many 
books on ac/dc electricity and electronics. I built a couple of Heathkits 
about 25 years ago and I have built a simple DC power supply and a low 
wattage stereo amplifier. That about sums up my knowledge and experience 
with general electronics. I have been reading about Tesla and Tesla Coils 
avidly for several years with the idea that I would ultimately build my own.
I have been reading this list for a couple of weeks and I have a couple of 
simple questions. You tend to use a lot of abbreviations I'm not familiar 
with. Is there a list of abbreviations and their meanings somewhere? What 
do VSWR, pfc caps, DRSSTC(I get the Tesla Coil part), and MMC caps mean? In 
all the reading and research I have done before coming across this list, 
the only types of coils were spark gap and tube. Now, from what I have been 
reading, there are new solid state Tesla Coils.

I have Walt Noon's Tesla Coil Designer software and I have George 
Sinkhaus's pamphlets. BTW, I have read Cheney's biography of Tesla.

I have been accumulating parts with which to build a spark gap coil with a 
4.5 inch secondary coil. I recently purchased 2 Maxwell .03mF 35 VDC pulse 
discharge caps. I decide not to build my own aluminum and polyethylene cap. 
Walt's design software recommends .0212 mF of capacitance for the coil I 
want to build. What are the consequences of using too much capacitance, 
.03? Will it change the tuning frequency?

Sorry for the long winded post. Any and all help will be tremendously 
appreciated!!! One last question. I have read much about Richard Quick's 
coils and understand that there is a video of his coiling exploits. Does 
anyone know how I can obtain a copy of this video? Thank you.
Oh yes. Please excuse the large type size. I'm legally blind and I need the 
large type to see what I'm doing. I use a magnifying glass to read the list 
but it is awfully hard to type while holding a magnifying glass. {:-)
Paul Brodie