[TowerTalk] electric fence qrn

[Floyd Sense]

I went through the same thing this past year.  I'll bet your neighbor
installed this fence himself as my neighbor did.  It seems that his law
school education didn't provide much info on electrical circuits.  In a
fence run of about 3/4 mile, I found 52 splices, made by loosely twisting
the aluminum wires together.  It doesn't take much time for such splices to
begin to arc.  I'd start by walking the fenceline with the charger running,
and listen for arcs by ear - no radio required.  I'm sure you'll hear many
ticking joints.  I fixed all the joints with a good Western Union style
joint, after using sandpaper to clean the oxide off the wires.  After each
joint was made, I coated it with some black "liquid electrical tape" to try
and prevent oxidation in the future.  As someone else mentioned, look
closely at the gate spring handles.  The metal portion that contacts the
aluminum wire is usually zinc plated steel, and it begins to rust in the
first rain after installation.  I found that 100% of the rusty handles were
arcing, and replaced all those.  They're around $2.49 at the local farm
supply store and you might want to pick up a few extras because you'll need
them in the future.

I also found that the guy used a piece of steel rebar for a ground rod, and
the grounding clamp fit loosely on that, causing another arc source.  Also
found a few broken plastic insulators, where the fence wire was touching the
nail holding the insulator to the post.  When the post gets wet, an arc
occurred at those spots as well.

There are a few websites that explain electric fences in great detail, and I
suggest you read those carefully to get a full understanding of the right
way to install the fence.

The total expense for my effort was around $25, and 16 hours of labor.
I've been noise free for the past 6 months, and the neighbor's fence is
working better to boot.

K8AC
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Brown" <kb0pyo at direcway.com>
To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 8:39 PM
Subject: [TowerTalk] electric fence qrn


> Hi All
> I have a new neighbor who has horses and put up an electric fence. It is
> giving off an s9+ pulse on the lower bands and is hearable on 2m ssb when
I
> point that way. Any suggestions to fix it? I confirmed it is the fence and
> the neighbor is willing to work with me to fix it.
> Mark
>
>
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