Velocity Inhibited, Distributed Element, Slow Wave, Helical, Transmission Line Resonator (Agnes)

Updated July 19, 2009

1                                                  2                                                3                                                   4

Photo 1 - B/W 35mm film, this was shot I was hoping to get and one of my favorites, I have it a t-shirt.  The discharges were about 4' to 5'.  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.  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), and where to best position them?  How would water doped with some type of salt effect performance?

Photo 2 & 3 - (March 2002) 5" diameter O. W. Landergren al sphere with anodized logo (nothing interesting happened on the logo) - discharges are striking a grounded 1/2" copper tube formed into a circle 30.5" in 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 Photos 6 & 7.  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.  Because of that I decided to design an indoor coil and came up with my bi-polar with the argon chamber, and I still have the arrows in my lab.

1. Power supply = 1.8kva = two 15kv, 60ma Franceformers
2. Primary = 19 turns of 1/4" k type cu tubing, tapped at 17 turns, 18 degree slope
3. Primary diameter = 24"
4. Primary inductance = 9.27 uH
5. Primary resistance =
6. Secondary = 6.3" o.d., 32.5" length, 31.5 wound with 21awg - about 1000 turns
7. Secondary inductance = 34.65 mH
8. Secondary resistance = 29.3 Ohms
9. Secondary internal capacitance = 0.689uF
10. Secondary height = 38"
11. Capacitor = CSI Technology extended foil 0.02122 uF

12. 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).

13. Toroid = 24" diam, chord of 6.5" 

14. Total height = attached to 5" high rolling base - 6' 8" from the ground to top of toroid

15. Frequency =138.5 kHz with the 24" by 6.5" toroid

Photos 9-12 - self portrait & construction photos, mid to late 2000.