Rochester Area Teslathon 1995

The fourth annual Rochester Area Tesla Coil Builders' Teslathon was held at the home and lab of Ed Wingate in Brockport, New York, on August 26, 1995. It was a sunny and pleasant late August day for the approximately 25-30 folks in attendance. Top honors for greatest distance traveled went to John Washuk from Banning, CA; Jim and Ann Speer from Renton, WA: and Steve Cole from Crestline, CA; with Steve Cole having the edge by driving the 5200 mile round trip to attend the event!

This was also the second consecutive year that Steve has attended. Second greatest distance traveled was by T.C.B.O.R. members Richard Hull and Dave Sharpe who drove the almost 1000 mile round trip from Richmond, VA, and Joe and Joey Gelbudas who flew in from Kenosha, WI for the third year in a row.

The group was also honored to have Harry and Ruth Goldman (of T.C.B.A. notoriety) drive from Queensbury, NY to join the festivities. It was a pleasure to meet them in person. There were also attendees from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario (Canada) in addition to the states already mentioned. The late afternoon cookout featured fresh corn on the cob, hot dogs, hamburgers and the customary salads and fixings.

There were plenty of sparks and arcs and ozone for everyone as many kilowatts were consumed during the course of the day. The day's activities included firings of Ed's twin coil system with 14 foot point-to-point arcs being sent across the lab at 13 KW. Ed's magnifier system capable of hot and noisy 100" to 120" straight line arcs was also set up and fired later in the afternoon for the perusal of the assembled troops. Steve Cole brought his twin 805 vacuum tube coil and gave some very interesting demonstrations for the group. Ed also gave some demos of his twin 833C vacuum tube coil and 24" Wimshurst machine during the course of the day. There were also many of the inevitable small group discussions about Tesla coils and rotary spark gaps, their construction, operation, and theory.

One of the highlights of the Teslathon was an excellent slide show given and narrated by Jim Speer of his visits and work with Bob golka on Project Tesla in Wendover, Utah in 1976 and 1981. Jim has many exclusive slide photos of Golka's equipment and work in Utah and was kind enough to bring them from Washington to share with the group. Great show Jim, thanks!!

The bash lasted from 12:00 noon Saturday until 11:30 P.M. when the final few diehards pulled away from the lab. Special thanks to all the attendees for making this the best Rochester area Teslathon yet!!

T.C.B.O.R. Teslathon '95

The sixth annual Tesla Coil Builders' of Richmond Teslathon was held on Saturday, October 7th at the home and lab of Richard Hull. The day of the event was a pleasant and sunny fall day with a high temperature of 78 degrees.

There was a record-breaking 43 attendees at the bash which also featured an auction and flea market of Tesla coil related electrical and electronic goods. The most esoteric item offered for sale was a 4" x 4" terbium activated, gadolium oxysulfied, X-ray sensor screen by Steve Roys of northern Virginia. These sold like hot cakes to Tesla buffs, ever conscious of X-ray hazards associated with voltages often encountered in Tesla coil experiments.

More than 50% of the attendees were from out of state with Steve and Faye Cole of California making the farthest journey. One young fellow from Alaska visited the day before, but couldn't stay for the festivities. Hull's 6 KW Magnifier #11-D coil system was fired as the main attraction. He also demonstrated his Water Arc Gun system which is used in on-going experiments related to dielectric breakdown of water. There were also lots of show and tell sessions ranging from luminous tube demos by Tom Vales of Boston and Bill Connery of Pennsylvania and laser demos of litchenberg figures in plastics by Kim Goins of the Naval Research Laboratory. John Freau of New Jersey showed off his brilliant and innovative “staccato mode” vacuum tube coil system. Lou Balint of Pennsylvania and Ed Wingate of New York discussed their latest magnifier experiments. A video tape by Ed Harris of Ohio demonstrated a non-vacuum system based, atmospheric pressure, argon and helium, plasma globe type device which was just amazing.

Naturally, there was a weenie roast with good chow for all during the late afternoon. A lot of new friendships were made and old ones renewed as ad hoc discussion groups branched off in clusters of 4 or 5 people throughout the day. All-in-all, it was a very good “Tesla cross pollination” among some of the nation's most ardent and enthusiastic coilers.

(Editor: Photographs of the Rochester Teslathon appear on the next page. Photos of the T.C.B.O.R. were not available at this time but will appear in the next issue should any be received.)