[Hallicrafters] Spiral Fluorescants

[Roger (K8RI)]

TC Dailey wrote:
> I will not allow those pieces of junk into my house.  They create 
> MASSIVE amounts of broadband noise, 
As I've said many times, that has not been my experience. In the house I 
now have 20 CFLs from 60 to 150 W equivalent running, plus 24, 4' 
conventional fluorescents (in the basement) that also use a similar 
ballast.  I have two HF/6-meter rigs and one 144/440 duo-bander in the 
house. In the shop I also have a Yaesu FT897D 1.8-440 all mode rig 
driving either an old Alpha 76A or Tokyo Hy-Power HL-1.5Kfx solid state 
KW setting atop an SX101, HT32, and HT33B. So there are lots of 
interconnecting cables and different types of rigs. On the desk in the 
shop is a magnifying desk lamp using a 60W equivalent CFL. There are 22, 
75W, 8' conventional fluorescent tubes suspended from the ceiling in 11 
fixtures. Now those are noisy but it's audible, not RF.     None of the 
rigs hear anything from the lights.
> which my "pretty good" noiseblankers cannot remove.  As a result of 
> the Government's STUFFING these pieces du'junque down our throats, the 
> wife and I bought 3 cases of GOOD ol' tungsten light bulbs, which do 
> NOT create such noise.  By the by, the new bulbs DO NOT save as much 
> energy as you would think.  The transformer runs rather HOT, so that 
> quite a bit of energy is wasted in USELESS HEAT,
A CFL with a100 watt equivalent output typically takes 26 watts of 
power. Just plug in a "Kilowat" meter to check.  I've measured the 
output as well and it really is the equivalent claimed.  Yes the base 
gets quite warm, but I can still put my hand on it. That means it may be 
creating about 5 - 7 W of heat.  I can put a 100 watt equivalent in 
places where the heat from a 60 watt incandescent is a problem.
> as opposed to USEFUL heat, which I recover in the shop.
Useful heat from an incandescent light bulb?  I've used them to heat 
batteries in the generator shed and put one in a well pit to prevent 
freezing, but *normally* and incandescent wastes most of its energy in 
heat rather than light.  The CFL is far more efficient.  Now I'm waiting 
for the LEDs to come out with 100 to 250 watt equivalent at a reasonable 
price.  They sure do work good in a flashlight.

Yes, some have had noise problems from fluorescents and CFLs. I haven't, 
but I get to make up for that with the noise from electric fences, baby 
monitors, and all sorts of equipment in this rural subdivision/neighborhood.

Now I think I'll go back to chasing DX on 75 from the shop, if I don't 
have too much shoveling to do to get there.  4 to 5" tonight and another 
8" tomorrow.12:20 was 3.9 inches.  We're now well past 5 with the big 
storm starting around mid morning.

73

Roger (K8RI)