Making a Spark-Gap Transmitter 

Hello BOOMers, there are debates on that my circuit which has capacitor parallel to high voltage source is worse than the other type I also showed at 0:02 which has spark gap parallel to the high voltage source, because DiodesGoneWild mentions it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wSp1IzmRUk8.html While the purpose of this video was not to make a proper commercial transmitter, because FOR GOD'S SAKE, WHO BOTHERS MAKING A COMMERCIAL SPARK-GAP TRANSMITTER NOWADAYS... both circuits lack many components that could make them better, both would work fine with proper components and both have pros and cons. Like in my circuit high voltage resonance frequency is right across the transformer and although mostly filtered, could stress the transformer to some extent, while if the spark gap is across transformer, it could short the high voltage for extended period of time overheating the transformer. In either case having a larger series inductor to the output of the transformer could protect it better. But WHO CARES?! Both circuits work for demonstration purposes, and need improvement for commercial use. So don't go selling this junk to make money!!

If we ever raid Area 51 again, remember to look for the computer with unedited audio files that have Mehdi swearing without bleeps

FCC: "Which frequency are you transmitting on?" E.B.: "Yeah".

Mehdi :"kill me kill me kill me " Electricity :"I'm trying I'm trying I'm trying "

The fact that this guy knows how to hurt himself without killing himself proves how smart he actually is

Government: "stay home for public safety." Government after watching Mehdi: "we were wrong"

His neighbours are wondering why their wifi keeps cutting out.

Earth: "hey look we can transmit invisible signals through EMF" Aliens whose visible spectrum is larger than ours: "What the fuck is going on on Earth"

You sure rang my bell! I was 12 years old when behind the RCA tv and repair store, I found a tuning coil from a tv. I had a morse code toy and took the keyer off it. I also had found a rca 22 volt battery in the trash and really did not know anything about what I was going to do. So I hooked the battery up to one side of the coil and the other side to the keyer. I mounted the coil on the top of a small cardboard box and the battery went in side it. I could not know if I was transmitting anything or not. But just enjoyed doing it and had an idea I was putting the battery power into the coil. And because the code box made noise I guess I was expected a tone. But I did get a small click from it. But when I went with mom and dad to the store, I took it with me. But everytime I keyed it up, it would wipe out the car radio. Boy did dad get mad when he figured out what was going on!

"Which ham radio band do you transmit on?" "All of them"

I imagine one day I see in the news: *Iranian immigrant causes nationwide power surge caused by "Homemade EMP" connected to local power plant*

11:48 That stronger "oooumppff" got me cracking :D

14:52 he actually wrote SOS in morse code.

FCC monitor guy: "I'm picking up some idiot with a spark gap transmitter!"

Alternate title: "how to upset all of the Amateur radio operators in you city"

The fact that I could understand everything in this video makes me so happy beyond belief. I’m just starting my communications module next week and this video has sparked my interest. Thank you 🙏!!

When he said • • • _ _ _ • • • I felt that

Hey Medhi, when BluePrint and I did our spark gap radio video last year - I found that in order to transmit outside, even with a radiated power of 20W broad spectrum, FCC denied me clearance. USA FCC is incredibly strict. Long story short, we had to do our tests indoors. But I managed to get clean transmissions close to 100 feet away when I tested underground in a parking garage, and never got the chance to do a full power test outdoors! Spark gap radio is really cool. Nice video!

Mehdi: Plugs in/turn on something Nothing explodes Me: (Visible confusion)

I love your old school tech. I got interested after reading a book in my school library in the 70s aged 12. I got hold of a bunch of ex-ministry of defence components. Massive capacitors, valves, resistors, inductors and all sorts. These all got connected together with PP9 batteries. The number of times I shocked myself belies the fact I'm still alive today. I was also interested in photography. I decided the best way to photograph a spark was using long exposure on my 110 camera and a 5000microF capacitor discharging through a 240/12V transformer in reverse. First attempts not good. I needed dark. So I put the whole lot under my bed. Camera on long exposure. In those days, beds were horse-hair or something. Suffice to say, the spark was massive. So was the fire on the undeside of my bed.

1:06, 11:16 AWWWWW SH**!!! 😂 7:17 the hell ha ha. 0 after all this. 9:32, 10:40 Scope sound 12:03 Goody 14:55 Help me.

11:16 that scream is the real pain

Mehdi: *drops whiteboard* Me: *giggles like a child*

Reminds me in the mid 70's as a teenager building a spark transmitter using a relay wired to make it buzz and using an old sound output transformer. When connected to a 45 metre long wire antenna it would transmit for several miles on nearly all frequencies at the same time, it could even be picked up by TV's in the UK UHF band where the screen would be covered in white random lines and the sound go crackly regardless of channel. My neighbours used to call out the TV engineers with great regularity usually blaming their TV sets, all they had to do was ask me when I wasn't out on my bike with my transistor radio doing signal checks.

I like how you presented the concepts of inductance and LC resonance in a very hands-on and understandable way. I used to play a lot which such circuits. Nowadays, I work as an RF engineer for some years at a medium-sized company, and unfortunately, a lot of applicants at our company have literally no idea what LC resonance actually is, even though they apparently have studied electrical engineering. (At least my job is secure for the foreseable future)

1:06 "Don't put your finger close to a stun gun when it's running" he says

this video should be renamed "how to piss off your neighborhood hams" legend says that if you run a sparkgap transmitter for 1 day straight the FCC will come and beat you with tire irons

Thank you so much for explaining this in such a simple way! Seriously, I could take engineering classes at a university that couldn't help me learn electronic circuits and functions like this.

I wish this man never dies I don’t wanna fall back into depression :(

Mehdi: Yay Sparky fun Every Amateur Radio operator in the world: I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.

11:15 I think that was rare case of GENUINE surprise electro-boom. Most spoofs and fibs are well-thought and executed skits (and one of reasons I love Mehdi!), but this one and the one where whole installation fell on him while razing sparks and bolts all over the place is where I cannot find any proof of him making things up. His reaction is also unusually strong! I'd Love Mehdi to make at least one presentation HOW he is planning his skit electroshocks, how he is taking safe measures etc. but at the other hand I'd rather not see it; as they say, true magicians never show how their magic is made!

now i can finally sabotage my neighbours wifi

WOW! So much good information in one video...practical and that can be used to make something real. In these moments I am proud to be a Patreon supporter! :) thank you so much!!

15:10 “which you should be right now”

"typical Iranian day-to-day life" LOL so true.

As an amateur radio operator, I appreciate this video.

💢💢 I loved this experiment!!! I'm an ex-Ham radio operator General Class and followed the calculations. You have some mighty nice electronic instruments! And when you poured salt water into the Leyden Jar, I finally understood how it worked as a capacitor. The wire that you dangled from the top acted like a "brush" into the brine which acted as the second plate! I'm thrilled to have watched this experiment. Fritz 💢💢

Your Morse capability is enough encryption. Nobody can read it ;-)

i respect a man that even in quarantine he finds a way to communicate with us!

1:06 had me laughing so hard

Mate, one of the best videos you ever made. I could learn tons.

Knock, knock! Who is there? Its the FCC! For the love of god, stop what you are doing. :)

I feel like I’m going to get accidentally electrocuted just watching you.

ElectroBoom, You probably know this already. The circuit at 7:36 can be used as an AC voltage dividor. Measure the voltage across the inductor and use it and the current to find the reactance of the inductor , and which is like the effective AC resistance = voltage / current. Use that value in the reactance of an inductor formula and solve for the inductance. I have used this concept to find the value of a capacitor using a 1000 hz sine wave from the earphone output of a computer, and a voltage meter. I have a laser, audio circuit posted that I made if people want to make one.

Why the hell are there so many views but barely any likes. This man spends so much time teaching his knowledge for free for others. My man deserves more likes fellas. I appreciate you videos ElectroBOOM, thank you for all of your fun teachings.

11:15 God damit literally thought you was dead after that scream

"And i will use the outlet earth to connect it to groud" Sheeet, here we go again

Thank u sooooo much explaining why the inductor doesn’t affect the resonance of the tank circuit! I’ve been searching for weeks for that explanation!

Thank you friend, I always enjoy your videos. Keep up the good job!

11:16 that's the loudest he's ever screamed😂😂

As a ham radio operator, stay the hell out of my neighborhood. LOL We have enough to deal with with all those cheap switching mode power supplies out there. A long time fan....

this is the best youtube channel ever !! Big Entertaiment and soooo many knowledge !! Big respect !!!

Thank you for these fun informative videos. Your content is great and funny. It’s almost impossible to not watch the whole video

Imagine rescue helicopters in his windows after he transmitted the SOS call...

"in a what stronger measure will the electricity be released?" mehdi:" a much stronger OOOOMPFF!"

You have great knowledge sir🙏🏻

One of your best. Thanks

11:16 I think that might’ve been the loudest he’s screamed

Please debunk the 5G myths, it’s getting out of hand now

thankyou , i never truly understood how wireless tech works now you have given me the best explanation possible

This is your best video thanks mr.electric.

I would’ve loved to have you as one of my professors when I was in school!

This is why I admire Engineers very much. First an idea, then a few cryptic equations and a pen, paper, and calculator, next thing you know you're transmitting stuff across the room and probably confusing the heck out of passing birds coming back from migration... =D

Nice job explaining Ham Radio - maybe some of the viewers will get interested in it and join the fun.

Love ❤️ this wild and crazy guy! Unique approach to teaching.

Please keep uploading such videos frequently. This could really help during the quarantine period. A knowledgeable quarantine 😄

I love this video. It's like he just looked at his back shelf and figured "Spring Cleaning! What can I do with this stuff?!"

I avoided this video a while but it was absolutely the greatest overview ever!

I was building one of these when you published this video. That was one hell of a learning curve. I wish I would have delayed 3 months and let you do all the work:)

Thank you for clearly explaining some of the concepts that my ham radio license says I am supposed to already know.

Information is Power. Ergo, Transmitting information is transmitting power. I'll show myself out.

Why can't I comprehend these simple explanations? I can grasp most other areas of science, even quantum physics, but electrical engineering and circuit diagrams just go easy over my head, regardless of how simply it is explained!

I made one of those tasers back in high school using the same coil and relay setup. Pretty fun!!!

Your How To Make A Taser video is my favorite video from you. I even rewatched 3-4 times yesterday.

Great video, Mehdi! Spark gap xmitters are awesome, the very first radios along with xtal sets. This helped to save 705 people aboard the Titanic. It was used extensively in WWI and got to be quite advanced, tunable, etc. Valves quickly replaced all spark equipment, but it was still in use into the early 1920s. The Titanic's Marconi system was one of the most advanced and powerful at the time, I think upwards of 5KW of power. Every spark emits a radio frequency... turn on an AM radio and hear the noise from a light switch, an appliance running, even distant lightning during a storm.

I have no business at all with electrical engineering yet this is one of the few channels I love to keep going back to watch the videos.

This was nice video 👍🏻 make part 2 ! If possible 😜

You have brilliantly condensed 5 years of electronic engineering in a 15 minute video.

11:48 ...in a stronger *OOMF*

Hey. Nice paddle technique. That was pretty much spot on 10 words per minute CW. Or Morse code. I love getting on 80 meters with CW. 👍

Thankyou that was wonderful!

Thank you for that video. I am an Amateur Radio Operator and I have never seen a better example of how an LC circuit works. I wish I could connect to your brain like they did in the movie The Matrix and download some of that knowledge.:-)

We not gonna talk about the ghost that showed up in the reflection of his gold play button at 16:03

Very fun and informative!

Excellent way of explaining critical principles. Thank you. I liked it.

Clueless people looking for entertainment: hehehehe Seasoned hams: WHO IS THIS IDIOT I AM HEARING ON ALL BANDS?!

Man that capacitor shock looked like it hurt. Reminds me when my electronics teacher use to throw charge caps at us if we weren't paying attention

Loved this ... thank you Mehdi !

As a kid many many years ago, my uncle talked about using these when he was young. I understand it caused a lot of RF on a lot of frequencies Sounded like fun, but I did not try.

"typical iranian day-to-day life" yeah, that's how we're watching you on youtube XD

The circuit can be used as EMP generator, ajust the coil and destroy some electronics 😁😁😁😁😁

Just discovered your channel from a video about fixing the light bulb 😂♥️ and I can say already love your channel already Physics and Bring Education to people while being funny in a way. Keep up the great work 👍😊

You are making my Day so much better!

At 11:16 ohh god...by his scream...I can understand ...how high voltage he got😅😅😅

_DIODEGONEWILD IS TRIGGERED BY YOUR SCHEMATIC_

Really love ur videos man

Even the advertisements of your sponsors are funny on your videos! Congratulations man, i really admire you (greetings from Brazil).

11:15 I can see his soul departing from him.

1:11 sirens in the back THEY’RE ONTO YOU!

That was amazing!!