RE: The Tabletop Tesla Coil Showdown - OFFICIAL RULES and WEBSITE

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

Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Gary.Lau-at-hp-dot-com>

Ed Wingate wrote:
>I'm for one category or to state it a different way no categories!
>
>The so named 4/20 NST with no modifications, anything else is allowed.

Shunt modifications WILL be allowed because it is possible to operate NST's
safely with some shunts removed.  The beauty of the 4/20 NST's is that they
are unpotted and the shunts are easily removed.  Folks are not likely to
build qualifying coils if they must hobble their performance by not
removing shunts.  But the number of shunts removed will be regulated to
keep the power level safe and identical across all entrants, so that we're
judging coil efficiency, not how close to meltdown you're willing to
operate your NST.

>I really don't know how you can be sure from a distance that everyone
>is playing fair as far as input power levels are concerned. At the
>Teslathon it can be closely monitored.

I want to encourage participation by as many folks as possible world-wide,
not just those attending one Teslathon.  There is no material prize
involved so I'm not sure why someone would deliberately misrepresent their
coil.  It has to be an honor system.

Gary Lau
MA, USA