Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

[Donald Chester]

> After a few months the problem returned and the coax was found
> stripped away again.  I set aside radio operating for a while and began
> watching my 6m tower for evidence of the guilty party.  To my surprise, I
> found the culprit to be medium sized woodpecker birds.  Two or three birds
> would hang upside down under the Yagi boom and very efficiently strip away
> at the coax until the damage was done.

> Terry K4RX

I have  had that problem, except  they were eating my shack!  They pecked holes in the wood siding and trimming.  The only way I have even been able to discourage them is to stuff aluminium foil in the hole they already made, and they will abandon that hole but a few days later start another one.  I'm sure it isn't insects in the wood that attract them; the building is treated for termites and the wood they chose to destroy is sound and solid, with no sign of insect infestation.

I looked up on a couple of websites and it appears to be a common problem but the only suggestions anyone was able to furnish was something impractical like covering the entire building with netting.

Don k4kyv