[TowerTalk] Birds and Towers

AD5VJ Bob rtnmi at sbcglobal.net
Tue Dec 12 14:47:24 EST 2006


 Anybody seen this one yet?

Very interesting, exactly what we have been talking about happening right now.

http://www.wirelessestimator.com/t_content.cfm?pagename=Breaking%20News

  73 fer nw es gud DX,
QSL VIA: BUR, LotW, e-QSL
Bob AD5VJ(AAR6VM)
Old calls: WY5L/KH3-KE5CTY-N5IET
http://www.ad5vj.com/

Member: CTDXCC, NTCC, STXDXCC
FISTS: # 12637, SKCC# 2369
10X# 37210, FP#-1141
SMIRK#-5177, RARS #-149

 



> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com 
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of 
> rdhinkle at sbcglobal.net
> Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 9:47 PM
> To: 'Cam and Juli Hedrick'; towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Birds and Towers
> 
> You certainly deserve a pass on that... Obviously you've 
> created a great hunting perch for red-tails! 
> 
> But... Unless you get there first thing in the morning, the 
> assorted mice, shrews, skunks, raccoons, weasels, grackles, 
> crows and other scavengers tend to clean 'em up pretty 
> quickly. Plus it can be a little tough to find birds that are 
> often 3-5 inches long laying dead in the grass. And again, 
> there are NEVER "piles of little birds" anywhere, and they're 
> not always directly under the tower. If they whack into it at 
> 600 feet or so, they're likely to drift down wind as they 
> fall... Again, the things only weigh a few ounces.
> Any remember that the guy wires take a number of them too, 
> and they fall away from the tower too. And, I think we can 
> agree that except for the biggest contest stations, most ham 
> towers are generally WAY below migration altitude!
> 
> Shacks are never in the way of the birds, sometimes depending 
> on lighting the windows look like openings when it's dark 
> inside, so they try to fly through (I know, bad move on their 
> part....).
> 
> Preventing windows strikes isn't hard -- there are some nifty 
> stickers shaped and sized like maple leaves available now 
> that look like frosted glass to us, but appear blue in 
> daylight to birds (and bugs). We've had 18 months of no 
> window strikes here using them, and they're attractive to boot.
> 
> Cheers....Bob
> 
> 
>  
>  
> Bob Hinkle, KK8ZZ
> Solon, Ohio 44139
> Grid: EN91gj
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Cam 
> and Juli Hedrick
> Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 9:55 PM
> To: towertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Birds and Towers
> 
> 
> Hmmm, the Red Shouldered Hawks nesting pair on my property 
> love my towers.
> They sit way up there on a monobander and hunt.  I don't have 
> many mouse or other rodent problems here because of them.  
> They are on the protected list and we love watching them 
> teaching the new ones to fly and hunt each year.
> Also the screech owls hunt from them towers at night. The 
> bats love to paly games fly around the towers chasing bugs 
> and they're protected as well.
> No dead birds near my towers in 33 years of radio as a hobby 
> or profession...Air Force Combat Communications.
>   
> I guess I'm going to have to demolish my shack though...the 
> sliding glass door, windows, and storm door have taken a toll 
> on the small birds...one bird has committed suicide at each 
> over a period of 7 years.  A shack with no windows makes for 
> isolation and I love to watch it snow and keep an eye out on 
> the horses while I operate or work on project.  One thing I 
> really like is that I can assemble antennas in the shack and 
> test everything before sending it up the tower.  That's nice 
> in the winter as that's when I do most of my design work and 
> machining for new antennas to go up in the spring.  
> I guess I'll have to do that outside since the shack is in 
> the way of the birds.  One thing though...I might be able to 
> get a waiver since a number of birds built nests under the 
> eves and the timber frame foundation.  What do you guys think?
> 
> 
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