Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

[Mike Waters]

Hi Dave,

There are lots of mice and squirrels here in the rural Ozarks, but they've
never chewed on my Commscope flooded quad-aluminum-shield RG-6. (Yet. :-)

*Perhaps your coax has a soy-based plastic jacket.* There are countless
stories of rodents destroying the wiring harnesses of parked cars, because
soy-based plastic --apparently mandated by the government-- tastes good (so
I hear).
www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&q=mice+ate+wiring+in+car+%22soy%22

I bought two 1000' rolls of that coax from eBay, perhaps 4 or 5 years ago.
One run of it, perhaps 600', is lying on the ground; some still exposed,
some not. Another run of it, from another spool and another seller(?) is
~60% encased in PVC conduit where it runs across an open field. (If you do
that, DON'T put it where vehicles can drive over it! Use metal conduit
instead.) I can try and see if I can find the sellers if you're interested.

73, Mike
www.w0btu.com