[Boatanchors] OT: Which LED lamps are good and which ones bad (From a Radio noise standpoint)

[rbethman]

Phil, Et Al,

I also have a SDR setup.  I started with an RTL/DVT-SDR dongle.

Doubled that and ran a pair of them.

I moved to a RaspberryPI 2 B setup.

I also have had my fill of CFLs.  They save some money, but for the most 
part are a royal pain.

The wife and I have gone to LED ones for the Edison base types, and even 
those much smaller candelabra base ones.

My entire Den/Shack was renovated in 2013.  All the ceiling fixtures 
were removed and replaced with the "top-hat" or "high-hat" recessed 
cans.  They all had LED fixtures placed in them.

The only time those LEDs lighting caused hash/RFI was due to a dang LED 
Dimmer for the two separate sides of that 27 foot X 24 foot space.

Removed the dimmers and went with just light switches, one for each 
half.  ALL the hash is now out of the shack!

You will also find that halogen lighting for a bright light, yet only 
for small areas also is hash free!

Now the entire collection of SDR devices is entirely free of that 
nonsense.  At the same time we have ONE CFL that is the Edison base on a 
lamp with no shade, behind a Tiffany type free standing decoration in 
that room, all on the same circuits, in the fireplace.

I have no idea why, but that single CFL does not create ant of the crap 
that drives us all insane!

The worst I ever had of hash and rfi was when a family several doors 
down and across the street had one of the Plasma Screen numbers!

I'd go with the Edison base 60W equivalent LED bulb.  We have them all 
over the house, get more than enough light, each only consumes a 
whopping 7Watts of electricity.

My $0.02 worth!  ( We have save a fair piece of $$ with going this way.

Regards,
Bob - N0DGN



On 12/26/2015 2:48 PM, Phil wrote:
> OK, I'm posting this to several lists (NOT cross-posting) as I want to 
> have as much information at hand as possible before buying (they're 
> not cheap).
>
> I have a floor lamp immediately adjacent to my operating position, 
> less than 12" from the SDR receiver.  As the lamp is typically on over 
> 12 hours a day I actually 'prefer' to use a CFL in it (Edison Base) to 
> keep operating costs down.  Problem is, the CFL generates "hash" in 
> the SDR.  SDR is in a plastic case and the hash is picked up via the 
> inductors in the add-on LPF, as well as any portable radios I set on 
> the operating bench and listen to AM on (they have loopstick 
> antennas).  Because of this I've been switching off between a CFL and 
> the old style 60 Watt incandescent lamps (which I actually prefer, but 
> they take more current and burn out regularly).
>
> I've considered the purchase of LED lamps for that position as well as 
> the ceiling lamps (takes 2).  The last time I looked they were very 
> 'pricey', more than I'd like to spend on an 'experiment'.  BUT I 
> thought I might go down to either Best Buy or Lowe's and see what they 
> had in stock (Lowe's is probably the best place).
>
> Before spending my money, I wonder if anyone could tell me what lamp 
> brands are "RF Quiet" and more importantly, WHICH ONES ARE NOISY AND 
> TO AVOID!
>
> Thanks all, and HAPPY NEW YEAR. . .
>