my experience has been that rotating only works for a while- they get
use to it ... I've had literally hundreds of birds on antennas at one
time ... never had any damage...but here in my new location in upstate
SC I have 3 VERY large turkey vultures in the back corner of our 11
acres ... near the back tower - I'll probably need to get rid of them
before finishing the planned 2 towers with stacks... I absolutely
DON'T want damage to those antennas.
I wonder if one could run a dacron rope - well no - good idea but it
wouldn't fully cover everything - I was thinking of running a 1/8"
dacron rope taut between the ends of the boom about 3" above it - this
would keep them from at least landing on the boom I believe... but I'd
rather have them land there then on the elements.
I had read somewhere - was it on here? To hang a CD on a string -
drill the CD offset from the center so that it constantly twists - and
the reflections will ward them off ... not sure if that would work all
the time but might work during daylight hours. Seems birds tend to
'sit' on lines at sunset so that probably wouldn't work then.
Maybe a wireless speaker? Play predator bird sounds through it? Cannon?
The problem is whatever you do needs to be constant - so anything that
involves yourself isn't going to work as they'll just be there when
you're not.
Gary
K9RX
-----Original Message----- From: Tom_N2SR
Sent: Tuesday, August 2, 2016 12:15 PM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Birds and the Leaning Tower
Same here. I normally see the turkey buzzards after a morning rain
or when there is dew, when they will sit at the top of the mast and at
the ends of the boom with their wing unfurled, probably trying to dry
them off. One time I think I had 8 of them up there. I wonder if
it's good luck?
Since the feedline to the 2 element 40 is under the boom, there are no
issues with claws damaging it. When I installed the C31XR at 80
feet, and the feedlines wrap around to the top side of the boom
(because of the ring rotator), I placed a piece of Dacron rope between
the boom truss and the boom (vertically) to keep larger birds from
trying to land there and damaging the coax.
I've never had a problem with a large bird trying to land on any of
the elements. Maybe they have tried in the past and have felt that it
was unstable.
They also do not like to be "rotated." After once or twice they
typically go somewhere else.
Tom, N2SR
From: "john@kk9a.com" <john@kk9a.com>
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 2, 2016 11:33 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Birds and the Leaning Tower
Lately a lot of turkey vultures enjoy sitting on my upper antennas. They
are fairly large and not very nice looking. I do not think that there is
any way to keep birds off. If the element turned on the boom you can
temporary fix it by tossing a rope around the higher end and pulling it
level. For a more permanent solution you may have to use better
clamps. If
the aluminum physically bent it is either a soft grade or too small. An
element truss can also help.
GL
John
my
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