"CycleOpps" wrote in
:

My 2 cents on lighting and shortwave radios. I am an advocate of
fluorescent lighting, using the spiral type for desktop lamps whenever
possible. I also use this type of lamp in one of my ceiling fans that has
3 separate light sockets. When I first installed the fluorescent lamps in
the ceiling fan, I had a ton of interference with my shortwave radio. I
had resigned myself to the belief that I was not going to be able to use
the fluorescent lights in this application. I set about changing the
bulbs back to incandescent, changing one at a time. The shortwave radio
was audible in the background and I heard the noise go away after I had
replaced just 1 of the 3 fluorescent lamps. A little experimenting and I
discovered that the incandescent lamp was somehow dampening the noise
from the fluorescent lamps. To this day I still have 2 fluorescent bulbs
and 1 incandescent bulb in this fan. It doesn't look the greatest but it
still saves energy.

I have many other fluorescent lamps in the house, yet none seem to be an
interference problem.

Of your dilemma, one of the communication magazines recently covered this
same issue. Sherlock Holmes of Amateur Radio had his hands full with this
one. The issue shows a bulb with an apparently intact filament, yet a
check with a DVM showed the bulb to be open. Turns out that the bulb had
a microscopic opening in the filament, was open to the DVM, yet conducted
when voltage was supplied to it by the fixture and apparently even lit.
Problem is that it generated a ton of interference on AM. When the
individual finally discovered this and replaced the bulb, the
interference went away.

Bulb, contacts, switch, etc. Look for loose connections, perhaps if done
with respect for safety, do it with the lamp powered, gently manipulating
the switch, bulb (usually very hot), etc. Do this while listening to the
interference on your radio and look for a change in interference.


Regards,

Dr. Artaud


Are there any solutions to eleminating or at least reducing the
interference caused by low voltage halogen lighting? Like many desk
lamps and accent lighting. My only solution so far is to make sure all
lighting in the house is off if I want to listen to the radio.

Thanks, please reply to as well as the group.
Vic