Velocity Inhibited, Distributed Element, Slow Wave, Helical, Transmission Line Resonator (Agnes)
Updated Nov. 08, 2004
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Photo 1 - B/W 35mm film, this was the b/w shot I was hoping to get, one of my favorites for some strange reason, I even have it on a t-shirt. Of course, it would be nice if the discharges were longer. The top of this machine is 6' 8". Here I'm testing 0.1 uF Chenelec reconstituted mica caps - five in series for 0.02 uF. There's a pool in the foreground & the discharges wouldn't extend over the water, they avoided it. The bare area on the toroid faces the swimming pool, edge of pool in foreground, the longest discharges were on the other side of the toroid. Could smaller quantities of water direct a discharge? Would one gallon containers near the coil have a similar effect? If not, how much would be required (something less than a swimming pool, hopefully) & how close & at what height would it need to be? How would water doped with some type of salt perform?
Photo 2 & 3 - (March 2002) 5" diameter O. W. Landergren al sphere with anodized logo (nothing interesting happened on the logo). Photo 3 - discharges are striking a grounded 1/2" copper tube formed into a circle - 30.5" diameter. It's hard to see in that photo but the discharges pulled on the sphere slightly blurring the logo. Photo 4 (toroid to 8' ground rod) and Photo 5 - 8 2000 & 2001.
This is my second TC, my first was from the 1988 Hands-On Electronics magazine & was wimpy beyond belief. I'd call friends & neighbors into the house to show off this awesome 2" of discharge, I was so proud of myself. Then I saw photos of a 'real' TC & about puked, how embarrassing, no wonder most who saw it weren't terribly impressed. I immediately began studying theory, what others had done, devouring all info I could find & designed Agnes. There's a photo of my first TC on the SS TC page.
I built this coil at my Costa Mesa lab & would set it up in the front yard, close to the sidewalk. As cars would drive by I'd wait until they were almost even with the coil & would crank up the variac. The spark gap would roar like a chainsaw, they just had to look, and I imagine seeing 5 foot discharges coming towards you could be unsettling, sort of like looking up to see you're about to be hit with some crazy ray gun. That was so funny, some would almost drive off the road. I watched many swerve on by trying to figure out what the hell was happening, fortunately there weren't any accidents & I did meet a local coiler thru that stunt. I probably 'nailed' 20 cars this way. One night during a run I was assaulted with arrows that had big Mexican firecrackers from hell taped to their shafts (which were sawn in half). The first was a dud but the second had a good fuse & it landed 5' from the coil & blew up, no damage though. I guess I freaked out a few of the neighbors.
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Specifications
Spark Gap = Single static gap, two electrode brass (1.5" o.d. x 2") compressed nitrogen quenching (the single static gap isn't very efficient and is being replaced with a rotary).
Toroid = 24" diam, chord of 6.5"
Total height = attached to 5" high rolling base - 6' 8" from the ground to top of toroid
Frequency =138.5 kHz with the 24" by 6.5" toroid
Photos 9-12 - self portrait & construction photos, mid to late 2000.
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