Compact Fluorescent Lights

I have always used incandescent light bulbs. Last year I got a fluorescent light to use as a grow lamp for starting my garden seeds inside. Other than that all the bulbs I use are incandescent.

With all the talk about switching over to compact fluorescent light bulbs and saving energy I thought I would pick up a couple to try. I was in the electrical isle at Meijer here in Ohio looking for some other parts and spotted the compact fluorescent bulbs. So what the heck, why not give them a try?

Well I am surprised at how "clear" the light is from the "Daylight" bulb I got. I am not sure how else to describe it - the light isn't blue, but it isn't quite "white" either. This one is rated for 13 watts (60w equivalent incandescent). The other bulb I got is a "Soft White" bulb. It has more of a yellowish glow to it, and is lower wattage - 9 watts (40w equivalent incandescent). Both bulbs are Meijer brand and were about $3-4.

I don't know how accurate the conversion is between CFL wattage and incandecent wattage, but the bulbs I have seem to not be as bright as the incandecents. I may go up in wattage a step and see what happens.

Maybe I am just late on the bandwagon with CFL's, but I like them. I think I will go back and get some more!

One last comment - I don't notice any RFI from the light bulbs either. I know fluorescent lights can be culprits of RFI due to their regulators and what not. I don't notice any noise from my CFL's, as of yet.

Edit - the CFL's I am using (and I bought more today at Lowes, thanks Anatoly, KC8HYR for the tip!) are for general lighting in the room. My big fluorescent light is the grow light. Though, I wont' get that back out from storage until March or so when I get the garden going (I always say that and then end up getting a very late start, that can be my New Years resolution - get the darn seeds started well ahead of planting time!!).

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has a very successful and prosperous New Year in 2010!

I have been working on a coil for my mobile antenna to get it on 160m. I use a Tarheel model 200 screwdriver for mobile HF but it only covers 10-80m. My goal is to get the antenna to resonate on 160 with the new coil, by itself. The coil I am building is probably going to be a lot more efficient than any 2" screwdriver coil ever will be. The wire I am using is essentially 10 gauge aluminum wire (it is welding wire, but it solid aluminum). I have heard that the aluminum will be less efficient than other materials, however it is what I had on hand so I figured I would put it to use. Look for a blog post here in the next couple days about it. I am hoping to finish it tomorrow. There is a gathering at Universal Radio on Saturday morning so I want to have it working by then.

Here's a quick a sneak peak - the coil is 12" in diameter x 12" long with 5 turns/inch. I calculated the inductance to be around 750uH. As to how accurate that is I am not sure, but I hope it is at least that then I can trim to fit.