Re: 1/4 wave theory

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

Original poster: "Paul Nicholson by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <paul-at-abelian.demon.co.uk>

Michael McQuay wrote:

> Is it advantageous to design a coil such that the linear feet of
> wire in the secondary is equal to 1/4 of the operating wavelength?

No. See
 http://www.abelian.demon.co.uk/tssp/misc.html
for a disposal of the idea that a length of wire retains its
free space electrical length when wound into a solenoid.

The modern method of predicting the resonant frequency involves
taking into account the distributed capacitance of the solenoid.

See, for eg, Terry's E-Tesla6 program,
 http://hot-streamer-dot-com/TeslaCoils/Programs/E-Tesla6.zip

> There, I've pulled the pin.

I don't believe there are any contentious issues in this area. The
resonant behaviour of your secondary can nowadays be predicted in
nauseating detail.

Regards,
--
Paul Nicholson
--