I've managed to buy a number of those fluorescent bulbs that make a huge amount of RF racket! Some are quiet, some aren't. Many years ago we switched to 40 watt incandescent bulbs in most places throughout our home, which we find plenty bright for 99% of our needs. I've put CF bulbs in places where it's very hard to change the bulb (top of stairwells, the high fixture on the porch, etc) but have avoided them elsewhere.
Living here in N.W. Oregon in a town of <20K people who owns its own electric company, it's unusual for us to see an electric bill that tops $25/month even though my XYL and I both work at home and we run an electric hot water heater and A/C in the summer in addition to all of our lights and appliances. It was half that before the great California "power crunch" of a few years ago saw a lot of our power sent south. I don't complain; it helps keep the lights on in Aptos! Our electricity comes from spinning turbines at the Bonneville dam on the Columbia river a few miles northeast of us. Even with a fish ladder Bonneville's not terribly salmon-friendly (booo!) but no CO2 emissions (yea!). When I was a teenager I was messing about with a homebrew vacuum pump (wanted to make my own tubes!). I found a design that required a couple of pounds of mercury! Went to a local chemical lab and after explaining what I was doing they GAVE me a large crock full of mercury to use. It was marked "contaminated" but I never knew with what! The pump worked. Made lots of low pressure vessels to play around with on my homebrew 6-foot tall Tesla coil, but never made a "valve" with gain. Still, it was great fun, and I got an "A" in science class once again. But even back then (mid 1950's) I didn't handle the mercury with my bare hands. Already we had learned the lesson: "Don't touch it, don't taste it, don't smell it." Ron AC7AC _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
