[CQ-Contest] fencers

[jim funk]

Though not strictly contest-related, a comment on 3830 prompts this piece of
information:

"Weed-burner" electric fencers are a scourge.  I've used them (dairy farmer
for 40 years).  They actually don't work nearly as well for controlling
livestock as the newer solid-state types.  They short out easier than the
new ones.  They are dangerous to man and beast because they stay on for
about a full second each cycle instead of for a few milliseconds.  *And*
they start fires (why do they call them "weed burners"?  they burn stuff!).
I know of at least two grass fires started by them, and it's likely that a
barn fire our department responded to last summer was started by one.  The
ones I've owned were not "UL approved" (I think that's the proper term....).

>From the radio perspective, I've yet to see a noise blanker that would deal
with them.

Though it's a radical solution, I would consider buying one of the new ones
for a neighbor to replace a weed burner *if* he/she doesn't see the light
after being given the facts.

73, Jim N9JF