Jeff Liebermann wrote in message . ..
On 20 Mar 2004 23:28:38 -0800, (John Michael
Williams) wrote:

Ships around the turn of the 20th century transmitted morse code by
spark, I think.

The Lusitania, Mauritania, Titanic, and Olypic all ran on coal. No
gasoline in sight. Later vessels ran on bunker C fuel oil, which is
more like tar than gasoline. I don't think one has to worry about
sparks on such a vessel unless it's finely devided coal dust, which
finished off the Lusitania in a secondary explosion after the torpedo.

Interesting idea. I would have thought that a tube would require
more V than a neon lamp to get started. I'll try it if I can
find a lamp.

Neon lamp needs about 60 volts to light and 40 volts to stay lit. The
4 watt flourescent tube wants at least 90 volts to start, and I think
(i.e. guess) about 50 volts to stay lit.

What you seem to be suggesting is that I simply connect the
lamp to the 1/4 wave receiving antenna, right? Why introduce
my hand? For ground on the other lamp contact?

Yep. You're the ground. You should be fine with a 5 watt CB and a 1/4
wave whip. The high voltage point is near the tip. However, don't
try it with an illegal CB linear. You'll get an RF burn for your
troubles.

Incidentally, there are cell phone antennas with lights in them.
http://cellphones-accessories.com/12stobligcel.html
They're LED's which require much less power to light than a 4 watt
flourescent bulb. Still, it's kinda interesting.

I don't see the point of attaching a long
wire to the CB, because they don't come with long bare wires.
Clearly, I could get a good spark by attaching a wire to the
CB batteries, and avoid all the RF stuff!

Exactly. Same with an open relay contact or toggle switch. However,
don't foget that you need containment to create an explosion.
Sparking the DC inside the trunk is the mostly likely location.

22 V is a lot more than I could get with a 1 m monopole: I only
got 100 mV peak to peak.

The 22 volts peak is at the RF connector. I'm assuming that if there
is a spark gap, it will be in the coax cable or associated antenna
connectors.
...

I finally got hold of a 4 W fluorescent lamp (Coleman 12V lantern
replacement; H-F4T5D(3)). I attached a 2.7 m bare copper
wire to one end of it and tried holding the other end
in my hand while keying on Channel 40. No obvious effect.

John

John Michael Williams