John Freau is right, CW = bigger spark

[cwillis-at-guilford.edu (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Hi Tube coilers,

This really goes to show that I should have kept a paper record of my
coiling experiences, so that when I got back on track a few days ago I
could coherently remember what all I had done before.

John said that he got a better spark with CW, and I was sure I was getting
a better spark with sputter mode than I had before.  But I must not have
ever done a direct comparison.  I went dumpster-diving again tonight near
the physics building and I pulled out a big cardboard box of power
resistors.  So, just to see if John really was right, I replaced the 40
kOHM sputter mode resistor and put in a 7500 ohm to get down to CW
operation, and wow, those arcs are long!  I get about another two inches
now!  They are thick and juicy and moan with the AC in rather than the
sputter frequency.  Supposedly flashover problems are kept down by running
CW instead of popping the oscillator on at random times (sputtering).

Both the grid resistor and the plate surge protection resistor get real hot
now, and the tube plate reddens up. I can't wait until my NEW 833A comes
just to see if it works better than a $10 hamfest one!  

...I don't know how I survived over the summer without a Tesla coil to fool
with every single Day.  Can barely get any homework done now, there's so
much to do with this coil.  Neighbors complain about the loud roar at 1
AM...2 AM...visitors complain about the nitric odor in my room after the
coil has been running.  They're probably just gonna have to live with it
unless something blows!

Happy coiling,

Carl