[600MRG] Low RF Noise LED Light Bulbs

[John Langridge]

Hi Les,

My experience with LED bulbs has been that for the one's I have tried, none
work well across the the entire spectrum all the time.  Load conditions
seem to also impact where they will make the most noise and temperature is
also a factor.

I don't know the brand (kirkland?) but Costco has a large multipack of LED
bulbs that are insanely bright.  I use them on my front and back porches.
During the Summer when its hot here in Texas, the noise seems to shift
higher in frequency, into the upper broadcast band but below 160m.  That's
a workable solution for me as I operate on 630 meters.  I also don't hear
these bulbs in the 630m band under any of the load conditions I can present
(other lights and appliances on at the same time).  Im sure there is some
combination that will become a problem, however.

During the Winter its different.  If temperatures are below about 45
degrees and both of those porch lights are on, The signal is right in the
middle of the 630m band and its bad on two of my rx antennas.  If I turn
off the back porch light and change the load condition, the noise goes away
on those antennas.  So during the Winter when I am operating on 630m, I
turn off the back porch light.

Every situation will likely be different so you might buy these same bulbs
that I have mentioned and have a completely different experience.  I'm
afraid its probably going to be a trial and error situation for you as
every house will have a bit different wiring topology.  I bought
incandescent bulbs for the remainder of the house (you can get them on the
internet), which cost considerably more to operate but its worth it to me.

73/GL

John

On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 5:52 AM Les Rayburn <les at highnoonfilm.com> wrote:

> Budget is very tight here. A couple of years ago, my wife and I converted
> all the lights in the house from CFB to LED lights and the savings on our
> monthly bill have been signifiant. $22 dollars a month on average.
>
> The downside is that the LED bulbs put out a lot of noise on LF, MW, and
> HF.
>
> A few months ago, I saw a thread about some LED bulbs that were ham-radio
> friendly, putting out considerably less EMI than other bulbs. Alas, the
> link was broken.
>
> Has anyone found an LED light bulb that is radio-friendly? If you have
> links to directly purchase them, even better.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
> 73,
>
> Les Rayburn, N1LF
> 121 Mayfair Park
> Maylene, AL 35114
> EM63nf
>
> Member WTFDA, IRCA, NRC. Former CPC Chairman for NRC & IRCA.
>
> Elad FDM-S2 SDR, AirSpy SDR2, SDRPlay RSP-2 Pro, Sony XDR-F1HD [XDR Guy
> Modified], Dennon TU-1500RD, Sangean HDT-1X, Ray Dees RDS Decoders,
> Korner 9.2 Antenna, FM-6 Antenna, Kitz Technologies KT-501
> Pre-amps, Quantum Phaser, Wellbrook ALA1530 Loop, Wellbrook Flag, Clifton
> Labs Active Whip.
>
> “Nothing but blues and Elvis, and somebody else’s favorite song…”
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 600MRG mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/600mrg
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:600MRG at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: https://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: https://www.qsl.net/donate.html
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/600mrg/attachments/20190905/0028e93d/attachment.html>