Brandon Hendershot wrote:
Exactly how big should a counterpoise be in relation to the size of
the topload? I only really have about 4' of room available to the
coil because I have my drill press and alarm clock on their too.
That's 4' including the space used by my NST and variac, which are
both safety grounded in the case.
Why not make the counterpoise flexible.. Think of a conductive rug
that you can roll out when you're experimenting. It could cover the
drill press and clock and whatever..
I imagine it would be problematic having the
counterpoise connected to mains ground...
Why? If you're concerned about RFI, then put a suitable RF choke in
the connection. But for safety, the counterpoise should be
connected to whatever you might be touching, and that generally
means "green wire ground" as well.
Hmm, does the counterpoise
actually need to be wired to the secondary, or is there some sort
of coupling going on?
Yes, it definitely needs to be connected to the secondary (i.e. the
bottom of the coil).
One more, I think it would really help me understand
how to construct a functioning artificial ground if I knew exactly
what an ordinary ground functions as under normal circumstances.
Have you run one of the modeling programs that shows the electric
field around the coil?
Your secondary is basically a resonant LC circuit with the L
(inductor) being the coil, and the C being the top load (one plate)
and the surroundings (the other plate). Like any circuit, current
flows through the L and C, so that means that current flows through
the surroundings.
What a counterpoise does is give a low impedance path for that
current to flow in.
It also serves as sort of a limited faraday cage for things under
the counter poise. That is, if a streamer comes out of the topload
it will strike the counterpoise rather than what's under the
counterpoise.
Thanks, I really appreciate all your guys' help,
Brandon
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