Tesla Coil as an antenna]

[Andre Kesteloot]

James Moritz wrote:

> At 09:14 29/01/2002 -0500, you wrote:
> >Hello,
> >   I have not experimented in a while with my partially built tesla coil, but
> >has anyone used their Tesla coil as an antenna for ELF or other Freqs? If we
> >try to use it for 137 KHz how do you determine ERP?
> Dear Tom, LF group,
>
> Well, occasionally I have inadvertently used my LF antenna as a Tesla coil
> :-) But seriously, The Tesla coil is essentially a helical antenna (see
> ON7YD's LF antenna web pages  http://www.qsl.net/on7yd/136ant.htm ). So if
> it is several metres tall, and you can persuade it to resonate on 136kHz,
> it might make a usable LFantenna. Of course, you would want to avoid the
> discharges that occur in the normal Tesla coil mode of operation, since
> these generate QRM and absorb lots of RF power.
>
> Cheers, Jim Moritz
> 73 de M0BMU