Noisy (RF) shop lighting

[wjb]

I've been having fun bringing up my Garmin panel these past few weekends. I finally hooked an antenna to my GTR 20; a real antenna -- a 2m j-pole from my ham radio days; a great stand-in on the aviation band.

And ... All I heard was hissy staticy c-r-a-p! I could hear local planes transmitting, but the transmission were buried in the fuzz.

OK, I pull out my handheld for a test ... same junk! So, it's not the Garmin, but something in the environment.

My shop has lots of LED lighting, including a favorite LED "spot" light that I use all the time during construction. I've screwed it into a clip-on holder and move it and clip it wherever I need extra lumens. The best part is that the light is very bright, but not hot ... great for not getting burned while building.

It turns out that this light is an RF noise beast! Once off, the radio was happy and local traffic sounded crisp and clear.

The moral: If you're radio is unhappy, turn off all the "electro junk" in the shop -- which now includes the lighting. LED power supplies are far more complex then a hot piece of tungsten from our incandescent days.