[TowerTalk] Birds on Antennas

[Marlon K. Schafer (509) 982-2181]

Out here we just shoot the birds.  And flip the bird to the bird lovers!

Shot guns aren't good for antennas though so I'd steer clear of that option. 
A .22 with shorts works nicely if you're a better shot than Richard AND live 
in the country like I do :-).

It seems that anything that moves will help keep the birds etc. away.  I 
wonder what a plastic or wood spinner of some kind at the top would do?

Marlon
(509) 982-2181                                   Equipment sales
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64.146.146.12 (net meeting)
www.odessaoffice.com/wireless
www.odessaoffice.com/marlon/cam



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Zalewski" <dick.w7zr at gmail.com>
To: <kd4e at verizon.net>
Cc: <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 8:29 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Birds on Antennas


> Have you ever heard the term "Bird Brain"?  These critters do not have
> the ability genetically to remember or pass on to their buddies that
> the guy on the ground is trying to hurt them with BBs or peach pits.
>
> I lived for a long time in XE on the beach.  Osprey and other large
> birds would openly defy my attempts to rid them from my territory.  If
> I was away for a week I could come home to find the start of a nest in
> a tower section or on a side arm.  The only solution was to climb up
> there and evict the would be squatters.
>
> One time I used a .22 rifle to shoot a large creature perched on an
> element.  It scared him temporarily so I thought I had the solution.
> A year or so later in doing some antenna maintenance I found a nice
> bullet hole in the element.  But the bird was gone temporarily.
>
> I did the clicking of the rotator bit and that was effective.  I hired
> a Mexican kid to be at the station and click the rotator once every
> ten minutes but after a while I went broke and the kid left and the
> birds came back.
>
> I wanted to try one of those owls.  Driving down the beach one day I
> saw one of those plastic creatures on someone's house and perched on
> top of it was a large osprey.  Ditched that idea.
>
> I did find a device that was made by Coleman that did work.  It was a
> high frequency chirper.  Fully adjustable from Deer to Doormouse.  It
> worked.  I don't use it here in Lake Havasu as nothing flys here in
> the summer due to the heat.
>
> Good luck and good hunting
>
> On 7/25/06, kd4e <kd4e at verizon.net> wrote:
>> > Rock salt crystals would only be a very short range propostion
>> > anyway. They are irregular, not round. Hence, they would fly off in
>> > an uncontrolled direction, once leaving the muzzle. Round shot has
>> > some ballistic coefficient. Irregular crystals have zero or negative.
>> >
>> > Bad, bad idea.
>> >
>> > I have decent sucess just clanking the rotator selenoid. If that does
>> > not work, an EMPTY BB gun fired in the direction of the offender,
>> > seems to work also.
>> >
>> > INK N4OO
>>
>> Why not use the same sling shot one uses to hoist
>> wire antennas over trees?
>>
>> I would use some large chunks of dog food, perhaps
>> pre-frozen or something similar from a bird food
>> supply.  Not only would it make the birds uncomfortable
>> due to the flying objects whizzing by their beaks,
>> they might choose to chase them to eat them.
>>
>> The frozen food is biodegradable so it doesn't harm
>> your lawnmower and the bird lovers cannot complain --
>> you are merely feeding the birds!  ;-)
>>
>> And yes, peach pits are also biodegradable, but I
>> would guess that no-one would believe that you did
>> not intend to harm the birds!
>>
>> These human-interactive methods are much less
>> convenient than stringing fishline and the like.
>>
>> BTW:  Do they react to high levels of RF on the
>> antenna?  Intermittent RF beacons are legal.
>>
>> --
>>
>> Thanks! & 73, doc kd4e
>> http://bibleseven.com
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
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>
>
> -- 
> Tnx es 73
> Dick W7ZR
> www.w7zr.com
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