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Re: First post: Fluorescent lighting

Ed,
     You wrote....

>     Current "solid-state ballasted" fluorescent lamps sure
> produce prodigious amounts of RF interference, as to the various
> remote-control switches available for homes, and also SCR/TRIAC
> light dimmers.  Where I live such interference is already so bad
> that I can, with a simple loop antenna and oscilloscope, direction
> find on many local interference sources.  
>     One of the "solid-state ballasted" fluorescent lamps I
> bought and tested ran at a fundamental frequency of about 39 to
> 40 kHz, but I can detect harmonics of it up through 54 MHz, and
> it even interferes a bit with our TV, even though it is in a
> separate building about 100 feet from the house.
>     In my opinion any of these devices is an invention of
> the devil, destined to increase RF pollution ad infinitum. As
> they become more common radio listening (for all except very
> powerful stations) will become more and more plagued with
> interference.  As far as I can see, no one is seriously interested
> in regulating these things and the FCC hasn't the intent or
> resources to do anything.  How do you crack down on 10,000,000 +
> noise jammers spread through as many homes, and owned by people
> who haven't the faintest comprehension of the physics involved??
> There have been proposed RF-excited lamps which are supposed to
> operate on the "interference-permitted" frequencies of 13.355 MHz
> and 27.1 MHz.  I talked to an engineer involved in such a project
> and he told me his company had no intention whatever of controlling
> either the operating frequency or the level of interference
> generated.
> This is a tirade, based on years of frustration with the proliferation
> of devices such as those under discussion.

I find this distressing and I'll bet the radio astronomers do too. I 
see that they're already saying R.A. will be finished if things carry 
on this way. Whatever happened to the European E.M. standards that 
appear to be so rigid you're in danger of violating them by using an
ordinary radio (oscillator radiation)?? I find the lack of concern on 
the part of the engineers appalling. I thought strict EM controls were
going to be a major part of US legislation? I've heard plenty of 
scare stories over here that made me wonder whether coiling would be 
finished as a hobby.

Malcolm