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Re: [TowerTalk] Birds n towers

To: TT TowerTalk <TowerTalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Birds n towers
From: n4zkf <towertalk@n4zkf.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 17:11:55 -0500
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
Tanglefoot is banned from our towers. It's a safety issue for our
climbers. It gets on the gear and dirt, dust, anything sticks to it. But
it works if you want to use it. We work with the USDA and use effigies to
keep the birds away.


73 Dave n4zkf
e-mail: n4zkf@n4zkf.com
web: http://www.n4zkf.com



On 11/13/13 4:14 PM, "Patrick Greenlee" <patrick_g@windstream.net> wrote:

>Some bird repellent methods:
>
>1. Tanglefoot.  It is a sticky non-corrosive goo you put where birds
>roost/perch and they HATE IT.  It is non-toxic but birds and other
>critters 
>hate it.
>2. Ultrasound.  Ultrasound played loud and intermittently (randomly)
>annoys 
>birds and they tend to move on. Various vendors (I got mine at Sharper
>Image) sell ultrasound projectors that will keep dogs, cats, birds, etc
>away. Typically there are multiple settings for random/intermittent
>broadcast, different freqs (some will not bother dogs and cats but bug
>birds 
>and rodentes. I used a "wailing yelper type siren sound" and it worked
>great 
>and I couldn't hear it.
>
>Forget the phony snakes and owls. Save them for Halloween decorations.
>Critters get used to them and will perch on them.
>
>I wired an IR motion detector (security light) so the load was a water
>control solenoid from a defunct dishwasher instead of light bulbs.  You
>put 
>the unit into the test position so the light detector is defeated and you
>can make it work in daylight. You then hook up the solenoid to a
>pressurized 
>water source (I used a garden hose) and the output side to a Rainbird
>style 
>sprinkler or your favorite sprinkler. When IR motion is detected the
>sprinkler is turned on.  About 10 seconds after detection is lost (birds
>are 
>gone) it turns off (note: test function trumps the settings for delay
>times.)
>
>Few critters will hang around when this thing goes off.  Many critters
>are 
>long gone while the air is purging from the hose and are gone way before
>the 
>water squirts.
>
>My setup kept dogs and cats from using my landscaping for an outhouse. It
>also trained the postman to not cut across the yard.
>
>Patrick AF5CK
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: GARY HUBER
>Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2013 8:46 AM
>To: TT TowerTalk
>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Birds n towers
>
>I never found a good solution to roosting birds except turning the beam
>frequently to get the turkey buzzards to leave just as soon as they
>started
>using the TH-7 boom and driven element. 1 KW CW on 20 M may have also
>helped.  I also had several Great Gray owls using the TH-7 at 50' at
>night,
>leaving small animal carcasses and the pellets of owl dung at the tower
>base.  When I recently took the the TH-7 and Rohn 45-G down after
>twenty-seven years in the air, the corrosive effects of bird dung was
>evident;  stainless steel was corroded and galvanized steel was etched and
>beginning to rust.  Red tailed hawks do keep the other birds away and may
>have the least negative impact on your aerial equipment as a result.
>
>
>73 ES DX,
>Gary -- AB9M
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: jcjacobsen@q.com
>Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2013 8:19 AM
>To: towertalk@contesting.com
>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Birds n towers
>
>I'd go with eliminating the food source, if there is one. You can't scare
>them away.
>Years ago, where I grew up, there was a problem with starlings roosting in
>trees on one block. Talk about a racket!! Someone came up with a solution:
>
>Let's have the Police Dept get a case of bird shot for the 12 ga.
>shotguns.
>Then, one evening at the appointed hour, they assembled all the squads AND
>the fire rigs on the block. The "fired up" all the sirens and the shotguns
>were fired in the air, but not at the birds, until they were out of ammo.
>"We'll just scare 'em away with noise" Naturally, the birds all took off.
>Everyone patted themselves on the back, packed up, and left. If I remember
>correctly, the last squad had barely rounded the corner and the birds
>started coming back.
>
>Now on the other hand, at work we had a tower and a massive LPDA on the
>roof
>for HF emergency comms. A hawk decided to use it as a vantage point to
>look
>over the surrounding acreage. Never had a problem with other kinds of
>birds
>roosting on the antenna. Must have been because the hawk was real and not
>plastic. <GRIN>
>
>Don't mess with Mother Nature.
>
>73
>K9WN Jake
>
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