On Thu, 5 Apr 2012 16:01:12 -0400 "Mike Greenway" <k...@bellsouth.net> wrote: > I wondered how long it would take before they started >selling some RFI > generating lighting. Soon we can have a complete >neighborhood of RFI
I have tested compact fluorescent bulbs a couple of years ago and found that they were noisy. I have not tried to quantify the level of noise emitted, but it was about S5 on my K3 at a distance of about 4 feet using a one foot wire for antenna. I have stayed with incandescent, but my neighbor has installed over 50 of them on his house. The noise coming from that direction (NW) is significantly stronger than what I get from any other direction. Since he has installed the CF (and many LED) bulbs, I have not made one JA QSO! Fortunately, my DHDL, which looks towards EU (NE) completely blocks the noise and I am still able to work Europe. On the other hand, I have LED lights installed on my dock, which is only about 20 feet to the East of the RX antenna, but these LED lights are driven by well filtered drivers in metal boxes. No noise from these lights can be detected. It seems to me that we have a very serious threat from noisy "switched" light sources (and other digital noise generators, like Variable Frequency Drives) that have not been properly filtered. I am wondering the if the LED bulbs bought from Home Depot meet FCC Part 15 specs. Were they marked so? George, AA7JV _______________________________________________ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK