[TowerTalk] CF Bulbs

[Alan NV8A]

I was in Sam's Club yesterday and noticed that their GE CF bulbs have a 
warning against using them close to emergency communications equipment. 
A frequency range was mentioned: the upper limit was 30MHz, but I don't 
recall the lower limit.

73

Alan NV8A


On 10/31/07 10:26 am Phil Camera wrote:

> My experience is as follows:
> 
> I've replaced a number a incandescent bulbs in the house and especially in and near the radio shack and have not had a problem.  Those bulbs are the 8 to a pack GE styles from Sams Club.  
> 
> 
> Now, I've done the same with the same bulbs on the two outdoor lights with photoeyes.  On older photoeye units, these bulbs just burned out within a week or so (they are specifically not rated for photoeyes or dimmers).  This past summer I replaced these two outdoor fixtures with new that had a different type of photoeye (replacement was due to old fixture starting to look beat up).  I again tried these same CF bulbs and they have lasted for a long time......but
> 
> The new problem I experienced is that when these came on and stayed on, RFI wiped out the AM radio (and most likely up into the amateur bands).
> 
> I did an internet search and only found CF bulbs specifically rated for use with dimmers (none stated for use with photoeyes but I thought the issues were the same).  I bought a few of these dimmer rated CFs and installed these and no more RFI.  Gone.
> 
> 
> So if you are having interference issues with CFs; you may wish to try obtaining dimmer rated CFs and gives those a try.