Daily Archives: 12/27/2008

Ham Radio Transmitter from a CFL bulb

Alex wasn’t the first to recommend this article on building a 80m transmitter from parts scavenged from a CFL bulb, but his link was enough for me to elevate it to front page status. It’s a fairly neat project: the 80m transmitter only requires a handful of additional components (most notably, a crystal, but also a cap or two for the output filter), and outputs 1.5 watts using a 24VDC supply. Be careful when building though: CFL bulbs contain mercury, and while I think you can be hysterical about such things, caution is warranted.