Note from Frank Stenger 03-08-06:
Personally I prefer the Pink Panther. :-)
Fred
OK, Fred, I tried the horizontal coil disconnection thing with
this result:
1. I unsoldered the black lead from the horz. def. coil (HDC)
and inserted a microswitch in series with the circuit.
2. This let me quickly cut out the HDC to see what would happen.
3. Interestingly, with NO vertical deflection field, when I cut out
the HDC, the high voltage system shut down - as you had
expected. However, in the blink of an eye this happened:
a) The HDC drive decayed first - much faster than the
plate voltages in the tube. This collapsed the horizontal
trace into a MUCH brighter spot at screen center.
b) Then, as the main accelerating voltage drained from the
tube, the spot slowly dimmed but was visible for a minute
or so.
4. Now, with the DC VERTICAL DEFLECTION ON:
a) First, the "a" above was the same - just near
the top of the screen - but now,
b) Since the vertical deflection field was still on,
as the electron velocity dropped, the spot described
a bright vertical "comet" trace up and off the top of
the screen.
c) The important point is - this split second spot/vertical trace
is super bright for just an instant. This is what I had hoped
for. The same thing should happen for our "rogue" trace
if it existed somewhere below the normal electron spot.
5. I also added a screen mask as per "Fredenstein's" suggestion
which only showed a narrow rectangle in the central upper
screen section. This was not really much of a help - the problem
is not so much the dim screen glow bothering your eyes, rather
more of just a local washing out of any tiny spot - even with the
mask in place.
All this did give me a little bit of the astronomer's "blink microscope"
effect they used to use to look for new astronomical bodies.
Alas, I still saw no sign of action in the "hot" zone as I blinked the
trace on and off.
Fred, I think it's time for me to put the little Coby back together and
join you in watching the Flintstones!
