Re: [TCML] Newbe's First Coil

[jimlux <jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

cbroring@xxxxxxx wrote:
> I added a dedicated 8 foot ground rod for the RF side of the circuit.  
> No real change in performance.

your coil is small enough that you don't need a ground rod, especially 
if it's a fair distance from coil to rod.  Throw a 6x6 foot square of 
chicken wire under the coil and see what happens.

> Then I built a 4 segment spark gap out of copper pipe fittings.  This 
> worked noticeably better but got hot and the gap spacing closed up.  So 
> I rebuilt it and added a muffin fan.  This worked a lot better, had a 
> real snappy sound and significantly longer streamer from the top load... 
> for about 10 seconds.  Then the fun stopped! I guess the new spark gap 
> overstressed the ceramic capacitors and one of them quietly broke down.
>
> So now I'm in the market for a new capacitor.  From what I read a MMC is 
> the way to go, but I'm kind cheap and it would probability cost as much 
> as I have in the whole coil so far.  Also, even after lots of reading 
> up,  I'm a bit confused about choosing an appropriate value both in 
> capacity and breakdown voltage.  Do I need more then one string in 
> parallel to handle the current?  I purchased another OBIT on Ebay so I 
> will have 2 parallel identical 10kv 23mA transformers powering it.

Beer bottle capacitors are what you want at this stage. Yep, heavy, 
bulky, but basically free (assuming you can get empty beer bottles 
somewhere, and the 5 gallon plastic buckets..  Make a friend at a 
restaurant)

>
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