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Re: First post: Fluorescent lighting
Re: RFI
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.
Ed Phillips