An antenna for measuring Schumann resonance in the atmosphere.   This is a prototype antenna to be used with the Ligo/Virgo project.  There is a concern that Schumann resonance may cause correlated noise in two or more Advanced Ligo or Advanced Virgo detectors as they attempt to find gravity waves.  Independently detecting the magnetic component of the Shumann resonance will allow that noise to be identified and accounted for.

The core is 42 in. long, 1 in. diameter and is made of a high-permeability nickel alloy (EFI Alloy 79).  The winding is 36 in. long,  79,295 turns of 26 GA magnet wire.  That’s about 10,700 meters of wire weighing almost 30 pounds.  The longest continuous length of wire we found was a 10 pound spool, so the winding has two splices.  The splices were made at the end of a winding layer and are outside of the end plates.

The shield wrap is made of aluminized mylar and is connected to the ground wire with a small bolt.

schumann_winding_end_plate

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Wrapping the core with Kapton tape.
Wrapping the core with Kapton tape.
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Starting the second layer.
Starting the second layer.
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Coil end plate

A plate was used on each end of the coil to contain the windings.  The larger notch engages a key to keep the antenna from rotating in the housing.  The smaller slots are for access to the coil wires.

Photo:

Mark Zach
30 September 2013