Check out my new "tubes"

[W1RKW]

Check out my new tubes.     Got 2 of these babies.  Should be a good RFI emitters.  Need to replace some rather dull bulbs in the garage. I think these will do the job.  That's a C cell on the right.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Can't use these in my cold garage. Takes too long for them to warm up and light so you can see something.

[VE3LYX]

They put out a great signal on 3580kc.#1 source of QRN here and have been banished forever. #2 source is BTW the new TV.

Don

[flintstone mop]

I use these in my garage and they fight and buck and flicker, but eventually come to full brightness. Cheaper than what was in there before. 6 ea 300 Watt bulbs. Got the same light for 1800 W of electric.
I was fighting with my brain to decide whether to use cold WX fluorescent 96 inch High output tubes or CFL's.

No RFI from any CFL bulb at my QTH. Under counter LED lights, and outdoor security LED lights. Perfectly happy radios.
LYX, you musta bought a Plasma TV.
 
There are industrial/commercial versions of our CFL friends available in electrical supply companies...NOT CHEAP! Lowe's carries the low-life loser CFL's.
Fred

[KA0HCP]

I've had good luck with name brand CFL's.  No-name cheapos have been the worst RFI offenders, and there is no fixing them.   If any bulb causes problems it goes in the trash.  It's been four or five years since I had a bad bulb turn up.

[W1RKW]

I replaced them. RFI level is less than the old Circline lamps these replaced.

[KB5MD]

Kerosene lamps, absolutely no RFI.

[w1vtp]

Bob

Is that 120 watts rating the power it consumes or the equivalent light in old time bulbs?

Al

[n3lrx]

This building is full of CFLs and regular florescent tubes. It's probably the number one cause of my RFI problems that limit my ability to receive anything but noise.

If I had a choice I would never run them anywhere near my shack.

[VE3LYX]

I  second that. They have been banned from my home. Often folks don't even know that is where the noise is coming from.
Don

[flintstone mop]

This building is full of CFLs and regular florescent tubes. It's probably the number one cause of my RFI problems that limit my ability to receive anything but noise.

If I had a choice I would never run them anywhere near my shack.

Roger...A commercial type building, maybe your building is older, will have many offenders. Old ballasts buzzing away and fluorescent tubes needing replacement.
We tried a Ham station at work. Huge commercial building and a steel roof covered with a membrane material for water proofing covering the structure.
The antenna was one of those NIVIS types, above the roof. The noise was horrendous.
All of our lighting at the QTH is CFL or LED's. The man-cave area is all fluorescent fixtures that were bought new and 8 yrs old.
Fred

[W1RKW]

Al,
The new bulbs are rated at 68w with a 300w equivalent light output.  The Circlines they're replacing I think were around 50w consumed and 250w equivalent light output.

[W2PFY]

The new bulbs are rated at 68w with a 300w equivalent light output.

what is the cost for those? I guess if I need to ask, I cannot afford them

[flintstone mop]

I would not know the price of the bulbs you quoted, but there is a commercial version of CFL's that are about that rating for power consumption and rated equivalent to 300W bubs for $30 a piece. You would have to go to an electrical lighting store to buy them. Nothing of that quality in a big box store.
A pastor at a local church is switching out all of the outdated incandescent 300watt bulbs that are no longer made for these 300W equivalent commercial CFL's. Each lamp had two of the old style bulbs and he was lighting the church with 5.4kw of electric. The CFL's will cut the power consumption to 1.224kw. There was some offers for LED lighting that would reduce power consumption to 900 watts but the initial cost of entirely new light fixtures was out of this world!
Fred

[W1RKW]

Hi Terry,
If i remember right they were around $12ea at Home Despot.

I took a look at the box and it has the usual statement about how it complies with Part 18 of the FCC Rules and Regs. But unlike other CFL packages this one has one additional statement.  It's as follows:

Do not install this product near maritime safety equipment or other critical navigation or communication equipment operating between 0.45-30Mhz.

Never saw that before on other CFL packaging but they don't bother the radios here when on.

[WA1LGQ]

Hmm, interesting on the part 18. They installed all  new fixtures at work and they consist of 4 thin tubes around 4 feet long and I think they had a part 18 sticker. I will look again if I ever get the chance. The RF from those things is unbelievable. We used to be able to listen to FM broadcast stations inside, but no more. The band is wiped clean with noise now. Granted the signals weren't the greatest inside the building anyway, but at least it was possible to listen to many stations. Now, nothing. Also 6M and 2M bands are in bad shape. Seems the higher you go in freq, the lower the noise. Even 440 is affected. AM broadcast band was always a wasteland in here anyway, but it doesn't seem to be much worse than before they installed the new lights.
Larry

[w1vtp]

I have florescents in my main shack. Those do not bother HF.  However, the ones in the back room do.  The electrician who installed them (in the back room) was in the process of installing incandescent sockets.  I told him I wanted the same lights as the main part of the shack.  I think he must've done a cheapie on me - dunno if it's the ballasts or what but they are RFI generators.  The third part of the new addition is a pantry - those did have incandescent outlets.  I replaced the 100 watt bulbs with CFLs and do not have any problems with them.

Having said that, when I'm operating, the only lighting anywhere in the new addition is incandescent floor stands - three of them. 

Al

[W1RKW]

Larry, Facilities where I work relamped all the fluorescent fixtures with the thin tubes but they also replaced ballasts and I'm assuming they're solid state ballasts. The effort was due to some lean 6 sigma process improvement initiative the company in order to reduce overhead. The RF in our building was high to due to all the computers so commercial stations were masked to some extent. The new lamps and ballasts trashed everything inside the building except for an FM station that is 4 miles away and even that is marginal. The content stinks too. It has never been worth tuning into anyways. But I brought in my HT to listen to VHF. It's completely blanked even with company operations nearby operating in the 150MHz range.  My office is inside a metal building.

Al, did you stock up on 40w and 60w standard incandescent bulbs yet?  At the end of 2013 those wattages will be banned.  Stock up filament lovers!