> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Problem w/ Shop Lighting > > Hi, > My new shop is a pole barn 40 x 34 w/ metal sides and roof. Fully > insulated and conditioned, but with 4 rows of florescent tubes. Plenty of > light but absolutely very bad radio reception. An outside FM antenna > helps a little, but not much and no AM reception. We are in a rural area. > When the lights are off the radio works fine. Any suggestions about > further filtering? Hello, I research all of this years ago when building my shop. What you want are T-8 class florescent fixtures. The old T-12 and other similar types, (large diameter tube), is slowly being phased out although they still remain available. The T-8 class are the ones with the narrow size tubes. They are far more efficient putting out much more light with less electricity and the tubes last several times longer. The other advantage is that they use electronic ballasts rather then the old bias transformer type. This dramatically cuts out noise, not only radio interference but they also don't "hum" which can drive you crazy after a while. You can buy them at Home Depot but if you need a lot of them I suggest you check out commercial lighting suppliers since they will probably be a little cheaper. I have 24 fixtures, (48 tubes), in my 2000 SqFt shop and it lights it up beautifully. Rob Goodale, RPT Las Vegas, NV
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