3 k coil, first light

["Metlicka Marc" <mystuffs-at-orwell-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

to all,
i am proud to announce that today the weather finally broke, such a
beautiful coiling day i could only dream for.
so sad was i that most of it was spent in my van trouble shooting
problems for the man that likes to call himself boss? but at 6:45pm we
started to haul the system out to the driveway (wanted the bird feeder
to be a ground rod, but the little woman brought out the garden hose,
threateningly?, no bbq robins at my house, her words, my house? well it
was ready to go by 7:00, pushed the button, nothing? bad relay socket,
ok, pushed the relay in by hand, shot back while the fan come up to
speed, 5 seconds, 23.6 turns on the primary, wham! sparks where flying,
problem was i couldn't see them, i saw heat waves in the air in profile
but too much sun? ok, we waited, sent the youngest observer (newest legs
my dad would say) to fetch an aluminum ladder from the shed, no
pictures. set the ladder up at 60" from toroid, getting darker, pushed
the relay, ran, bright streamers to ladder, nobody around me, girls in
house, guys behind cars, wimps?
tuned the pri. to 23.7 turns and adjusted spark gap, moved ladder 70"
away from toroid, pushed button on relay, ran, streamers hit ladder but
sounded whimpyer, girls back in house, guys stood there ground, tired of
being called wimps? no pictures, girls got camera! tuned primary to 23.5
turns, left gap alone, pushed button, BIG strike to ladder, 70", no
picture, girl took picture of me running, digital camera doesn't take
pictures when the off button is pressed instead? Kodak's stupid design,
move ladder too 80", push relay, run, streamers flying everywhere, good
strike to ladder occasionally, girlfriend yells that it's getting close
to bird feeder, no picture, too busy yelling, not a stupid bird in site?
yell about no picture, ask what a flipping peahead puss is? girl thing?
now it's getting dusky, take camera, push relay (finger hurts), run,
sparks fly, all over the coil and primary, dew fell, everything wet, no
picture, took too long debating whether peahead puss is a word? stupid
nonexistent birds.  take coil apart and go in house to talk about the
good firing of the 3k coil.
well people this was a true account of how first light of the 3k coil
went, i wanted to do some coupling adjustments on the primary and get a
pic of first light? in september, in ohio the dew falls heavy so i
didn't want to take a chance of burning the secondary or blowing things
up.
wintesla did a perfect job of primary tap position, my hat is off to MR.
coppersmith and all those in his credits, if your out there MR.
coppersmith, i would like to pay for the version i have? MR. courtures
jhctcs program prediction of 93" streamer output is probably right on
the money, when i get my sync gap finished. great work MR. courture!
a few strikes to the ladder at 80", give or take 2" but the streamers
were not strong and fat? maybe with a tad more tuning?
29650v p-p input -at-75ma, new Pfc. caps still got luke warm to the touch,
18.. 40-48mf 240v ac run caps, mallory, 720-860uf total. i wanted to try
it with them unhooked but? all in all for the first light i am very
happy,  thank you all for the advice and suggestions that were given. if
the weather holds tomorrow second light with camera in my hand and a new
square D type NR82 relay base installed.
  marc