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Re: Topband: Electric Fence

To: ABowenN4OO <abowen@nettally.com>
Subject: Re: Topband: Electric Fence
From: "Patrick A. Thompson Sr." <wa4tukhr@comcast.net>
Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 10:37:34 -0400
List-post: <mailto:topband@contesting.com>
There are AC types that won't have the periodic pop. I recently "electrified" a metal bird feeder because the raccoons were raiding it nightly. If there is no leakage then the line is RF quiet. With any leakage the hash is continuous just like a power line leak. Since you control the maintenance of the fence you might want to consider the AC type. The one I bought was a "FiShock" brand. Internally it is a simple transformer with two separate bobbins with the secondary at 1.2kv. It makes a pretty nasty looking arc if taken across the output terminals but is supposedly humane.

Their catalog is available from their web site at http://www.fishock.com/. They are located here in Knoxville but I have no connection to them.

I bought mine from Home Depot.

Pat
wa4tuk


ABowenN4OO wrote:


At 08:09 PM 8/27/2004 -0400, you wrote:

The white tail deer here in Eastern Pennsylvania are eating my wife's landscaping and she wants to install an electric high tensile wire fence around the property. That means horizontal wires only 1/4 wavelength away from my new pride and joy, a 4 square array on 80 meters.

Will the horizontal wires attenuate the signals into the vertical array?

Will they change the impedance of the nearest elements so much as to significantly perturb the array's pattern?

=====================================
I have to fence my garden to keep the deer out. The Fish and Wildlife "experts" claim that the fence has to be 8' high to keep them out. They will also go under if your lowest wire is too high.


I made the first wire at about 30" and a second one about 45" or "nose height" on your deer. Ours are smaller than northern deer. The rest of the wires do not have to be electrified, since a jumping deer will not completed the electrical circuit required for a shock.

I have only a couple of trees that can be used, so for the rest of the posts, I used 1 1/4" PVC pipe over cheap 5' steel fence posts. If you use the more sturdy 6 ft fence post, you probably will have to use 1 1/2" PVC. BTW, I use the same scheme for my Beverage antennas.

The lowest wires, the ones the deer will contact, should be steel fence wire. We buy that locally in 1/4 mile spools for 11-12 bux a spool (#17 galvanized). I used insulators on the PVC pipe which may be overkill. I just figured that during wet weather, the PVC would not be a good insulator for HV. I have no measurements to back that up.

The top one should probably also be steel fence wire, but electrifying it does no good unless you have deer that can stand on their hind feet. In between, I used 30# monofilament fishing line. It is cheap and effective. They will poke it with their nose or head and decide that it is an obstruction. I have had them try to go over, but not through the mono.

Electric fence controllers usually operate at about 1 second between pulses. Depending on proximity of your receiving antenna to the wires, you will hear a "click" in your receiver. If you have imperfect insulation and a spark gap somewhere, the click will be much louder. I can barely hear mine (in the rcvr) when it is operating correctly, but if a leakage path develops or there is a poor connection as at a gate, then the system will arc. You can actually hear it snap when you get close to it.

I also use a light sensistive switch to turn it on and off.

My garden is about 75 X 75'. I am going to change this year and put netting around it. Nylon Net Company makes netting for bird and deer control. One model is 7' tall. I can install that on my PVC poles and then use a single electric wire for the space below to keep them from going under.

Early on, I put just the single wire. That worked for just one season. They soon found they could easily jump that. I added a second wire at about 45" and that also worked for a short time. Eventually, they jumped that also. So far, they have not gone over the 8 footer, although I did see a bent wire one morning, indicating that one had tried and then decided to go elsewhere.

You can get a catalog from Nylon Net Company at www.nylonnet.com 1 800 238 7529

You can buy other fencing materials from Agri Supply www.agri-supply.com 1 800 345 0169

You may also have local suppliers for the same materials. Nylon Net also offers some braided ropes and twines at reasonable prices and in lengths you can't get at the big hardware stores.


1 800 238 7529


INK N4OO
Sopchoppy, FL

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