[Al (astral highway)]

Hi Dave,

Thank you for your detailed post, I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. On EHT, yes, it is a serious business and of course there’s a part of me that doesn’t feel surprised or defensive when people express a natural concern. On the other hand, I first mended a TV when I was 14, and it was a pre-War model with a mains derived EHT, so I’ve been conscious of risk and consequences unsupervised and with no mentor, from a young age.

I’ve also done hugely challenging physical things for my lifetime, including operating in savage weather conditions , climbing , mountaineering and bouldering. So I have a close and detailed relationship with risk!!

For my Chemistry O’level project, I isolated the line output stage of a TV and used that to design an electrostatic smoke chimney to analyse residues in smoke. I was really careful to house it in such a way that none of my peers or my Chemistry teacher could possibly be harmed.

I do take your point about the way it’s easy to misconstrue comments on the forum and my response does seem defensive and harsh when I look at t today. It’s a shame because I actually laughed it off at the time and was going to put a smiley and a light comment back! I’m normally pretty easy going and I prefer t take care with the way I say things. Not my finest hour; sorry Dave!! I hope Dave reads this and we can understand eachother better...


You ask what the appeal is of all this current activity, and to what extent I am interested in Tesla.

The project appeals because I need something big and complex to occupy me while I’m not able to work. I noted that many constructors report having destroyed their valve Tesla coil through over-driving it in some way, so that projects only get to lash-up stage and then go kaput! It seems a shame not to have a stable, lasting construction to display and amaze. I have also noted from my own past forays into all this that mechanical aspects of construction are more important than anything else - so it takes an understanding and appreciation of materials and is a nice invitation into how to solve significant problems with materials . I also like making things and using what I find in the street or in skips.

The circuit I’m building looks really simple (very similar to the Armstrong oscillator used in some early radio front end designs, curiously!!) but it takes a lot of experimentation to build it to survive the outrageous currents and voltages developed. I enjoy the challenge!

Also, I have been unable to do much photography at al for the last few years since my first op. Most lenses are still too heavy for me to carry without discomfort. Before things went wrong , I was planning on making a print panel for the Fellowship distinction of the Royal Photographic Society ( I have the Associateship) , and I realised sometime last year that a close-up project using a pretty manageable lens would be a pod candidate. Kirklian photography has always fascinated me; the complex fractals and sheer beauty of some of the patterns. You ask about making some kind of contribution: well, I hope people can enjoy the beauty of any images I may capture. As far as contributing to knowledge, that isn’t something I am doing.

It’s possible that few people have tried putting a phase locked loop into a valve Tesla coil to peak efficiency. I certainly haven’t found any documented reports, so that may be the extent of my ‘contribution’ - not very significant at all!! So something inside me feels very happy to have made the waveforms I put up yesterday . Also I haven’t come across the use of a high powered class E modulator to test out the main inductors at low voltage and to prove and deeply understand the complex waveforms in three windings that are inter-related. So i’m happy with that decision and it is already rewarding!

There is something in me that loves making beautiful things; it’s just an urge.

As far as Tesla’s free energy legacy, I usually encounter phoney beliefs and misguided claims with no evidence behind them. I think Tesla’s emphasis on transmission is interesting and was ahead of its time : he is of course the inventor of the polyphase motor and AC power distribution systems.

Do you have an interest in Tesla’s achievements?

Thanks again for posting ...