Original date: 3 Nov. 2000
1st rev. date. 8 April 2001
2nd rev. date. 11 May 2003
3rd rev. date 13 June 2003
4th rev. date 3 Feb. 2004
5th Rev. date 19 May 2005

This digital camera picture of me and my coil was taken by the Christchurch Museum of Electricity curator, Mr. Eric Jones. My name is Chuck Hobson, I am a Radio Amateur and my present call sign is G0MDK. If you have some old Radio Amateur call books. you may find me listed in them as K4PIO, WA6FRM or WA6TIR.

As you can tell by looking at my picture, I wasn't born yesterday. I entered this world in 1927 beside the Monongahela River which flows past McKeesport Pennsylvania. For those not so geographically inclined, Mckeesport is 15 miles south of Pittsburgh in the U. S. A. My early beginnings

Having tasted steel mill work in the 40's I decided that the world of electronics was more suitable for me. That incentive kept me buried in my school books while my mates drank Coca Cola and listened to the juke box in a local drug store. They got jobs in the steel mills while the U. S. Navy snapped me up and educated (not trained) me in Electronics Fundamentals, Radar, Radio Equipment, etc. I must mention here that the Navy Schools I attended consisted of a suite of Captain Eddy Radio Material Schools. They included Herzl Jr. College in Chicago, Primary Radio School at Great Lakes, Illinois, and Secondary Radio School at Treasure Island, California. I hope that someone reading this knows about or had attended them and will shed a tear in remembrance. To keep a long story short, I have spent my entire life in the field of electronics earning a better than average living doing what I loved most (second only to the ladies). That's why I'm still smiling.

I retired from the work I was doing in the San Francisco Bay area in 1986 and moved to England. It didn't take me long to grow restless but part time work was not for me because I was "too old". So I took up with the Open University where ageism is a no no and earned two degrees: a BA at the age of 65 and a BSc (Hons) upper 2nd class at 70. I still do lots of useful things, all for free though, but needless to say, they are most rewarding.

I started building Tesla Coils about five years ago, a hobby which I have found to be most challenging. The one shown in the above picture represents my latest version. It was made from bits obtained in true Radio Amateur style: by begging, borrowing, and trading. I take this moment to thank all my dear friends who tolerated me on that scrounging exercise.

From playing around with this particular set-up and studying other Tesla Coil web sites, I learned very quickly about the nature of corona, neon sign transformers and spark gaps. Yet, this is just scratching the surface of Tesla Coil knowledge, but isn't that what this hobby is all about.

I could go on and on about myself, but I don't want to be held accountable for you falling asleep at the switch. High voltage doesn't respect carelessness.

As mentioned at the beginning, The above picture was taken by Eric Jones, Curator of the Museum of Electricity at the old power station in Christchurch England on May the 9th 2003. To see my coil in operation at the museum click "HERE"

.P. S. ... A local acquaintance of mine, Trevor Taberner G0UGS, insisted that I add this page to my site, Another dear friend, Walter Reed G0WAL, insisted I include my Open University achievements in it also.

P.P.S. I am an ex Philco TechRep. having worked 0n USAF, USN and Army bases from 1953 to 1958. I subsequently joined the Philco Western Development Labs (WDL) in 1958 and remained there as a Senior Electronics Engineer developing USAF Satellite tracking radar systems until 1963. I later worked as an engineer on aircraft for the USN at Alameda California until 1986. If you wish to get in touch with me, there is a link "for comments" on my home page. Thanks for your patience in reading this far down the page.

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