[TowerTalk] Swapping out a T2X & Wasps...

[n8de at thepoint.net]

Wasps love to set up shop inside the mast, entering from the bottom,  
inside the clamp above the rotor.
Glad they didn't get you.  I am hypersensitive to wasp venom and swell  
up like a barrage balloon when stung.
Don
N8DE



Quoting Kimberly Elmore <cw_de_n5op at sbcglobal.net>:

> Yesterday, the wind was calm enough that I decided it would be a   
> good dayswap out my jammed T2X with one that I'd rebuilt. So, I   
> prepare everything and head up my HDBX48 tower (8 ft of mast above   
> the top with modest antennas: KML-KT34A at top, Cushcraft 40-CD2 at   
> bottom, dipole for WARC in between plus a VHF/UHF discone at the   
> very top and a 2m/70 cm corner reflector near the middle). About 2/3  
>  of the way up, I notice that there seem to be a lot of bugs flying   
> about. I look more carefully and see that these are wasps. Believing  
>  that discretion is the better part of valor, I retreat.
>
> "Great, a wasp nest is up there someplace." I get some wasp and   
> hornet killer, go up a ways, and try squirting the stuff up there   
> but it won't go far enough and I can't get a good angle, anyway. I   
> thought to use my pressure washer with some insecticide injected   
> through the injector system, but the motor won't start (something   
> else to fix). Then, lo and behold!, by early evening all the wasps   
> are gone. Vanished.
>
> Armed with wasp killer, I start up again. When I get to the mounting  
>  plate, I find that there is no sign of any wasp activity: no nests,  
>  nothing. I go about my business, secure the bottom of the mast with  
>  SS hose clamps to each leg just above the rotator, and make the   
> rotator swap. Darkness falls and I have to stop, but things are   
> secure enough and I completed it this morning in more wind than I   
> like. Yet, all went well.
>
> I mentioned this to my kids (8 and 7) and they tell me "Oh, yes,   
> Daddy: we see wasps up there all the time." First I'd heard of it.    
> In all the years I've had this tower (going on 20 between Oklahoma   
> and Colorado) I've never seen the like. Does anyone have a clue as   
> to what's going on? Is there any way to dissuade these critters? I   
> need to go up there again to set up my 160 m shunt feed...
>
> 73,
>
> Kim Elmore, N5OP
>
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