Re: Tesla Coil Blunderbusses

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <FutureT-at-aol-dot-com>

In a message dated 4/19/01 10:46:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
tesla-at-pupman-dot-com writes:

> John, Macolm,
>  
>  Is there a way to use a scope to judge the quality of  the SG quenching?
>  
>  Cheers,
>  Ralph Zekelman

Ralph,

It's a lot easier if you have a storage scope because the erratic
firing of a static gap makes it hard to see anything clearly on a
normal scope.  The TC energy field can be picked up by a
remote antenna, set some distance away from the coil.  You'll
see the RF beats, as the energy transfers back and forth from
primary to secondary until the quench occurs.  Usually 3rd notch
quench is common.  By setting the scope time base to a slow
setting, you'll see multiple gap firings during the 60Hz half cycle,
assuming it's running at more than 120 bps.   The RF beats can
also be used to tell if the coil is tuned well.  When it's tuned
poorly, it will show more beats.

Cheers,
John