Here in the northeast it's wasp and yellow jacket season. I got stung
on the side of my head while bicycling last weekend!
This time of year I never do any tower work without carrying a can of
spray up with me. If it's bad, I delay the work until after the first
hard freeze, after which they all die until next summer. That may be
your best bet.
GL,
Barry W2UP
Kimberly Elmore wrote:
> Yesterday, the wind was calm enough that I decided it would be a good dayswap
> out my jammed T2X with one that I'd rebuilt. So, I prepare everything and
> head up my HDBX48 tower (8 ft of mast above the top with modest antennas:
> KML-KT34A at top, Cushcraft 40-CD2 at bottom, dipole for WARC in between plus
> a VHF/UHF discone at the very top and a 2m/70 cm corner reflector near the
> middle). About 2/3 of the way up, I notice that there seem to be a lot of
> bugs flying about. I look more carefully and see that these are wasps.
> Believing that discretion is the better part of valor, I retreat.
>
> "Great, a wasp nest is up there someplace." I get some wasp and hornet
> killer, go up a ways, and try squirting the stuff up there but it won't go
> far enough and I can't get a good angle, anyway. I thought to use my pressure
> washer with some insecticide injected through the injector system, but the
> motor won't start (something else to fix). Then, lo and behold!, by early
> evening all the wasps are gone. Vanished.
>
> Armed with wasp killer, I start up again. When I get to the mounting plate, I
> find that there is no sign of any wasp activity: no nests, nothing. I go
> about my business, secure the bottom of the mast with SS hose clamps to each
> leg just above the rotator, and make the rotator swap. Darkness falls and I
> have to stop, but things are secure enough and I completed it this morning in
> more wind than I like. Yet, all went well.
>
> I mentioned this to my kids (8 and 7) and they tell me "Oh, yes, Daddy: we
> see wasps up there all the time." First I'd heard of it. In all the years
> I've had this tower (going on 20 between Oklahoma and Colorado) I've never
> seen the like. Does anyone have a clue as to what's going on? Is there any
> way to dissuade these critters? I need to go up there again to set up my 160
> m shunt feed...
>
> 73,
>
> Kim Elmore, N5OP
>
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>
--
Barry Kutner, W2UP Newtown, PA
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