[TowerTalk] Flying critters

[Larry K4AB]

Once I was doing repair on a coax switch about 70' up on the tower.  As I
was taking the cover off the enclosure I heard a very loud "rattle" within
the box.  I remember thinking that it sounded like a rattlesnake, but how
could a snake climb a tower?

As I took the cover off the box I was engulfed by a swarm of wasps.  It
seems they had decided to build a large nest inside.  The rattle was them
flying into the metal box.

I immediately aborted my repair and carefully began to descend the tower.

By the time I got to the ground, the little buggers had "gotten" me 6 times.

Lessons learned:

-Seal all enclosures to prevent insects from entering.
-Wear long pants and sleeves...even in hot weather.
-Its better to have switches ground mounted than up the tower. (even for
stacks).
-Always have 2 halyards on the belt.  Always be strapped-in.

73,
Larry K4AB





On Sun, Aug 15, 2010 at 11:53 AM, <Cqtestk4xs at aol.com> wrote:

> In a message dated 8/15/2010 4:49:18 PM Greenwich Standard Time,
> jim at n7us.net writes:
>
> Or the  legs of a crank-up.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> I've encountered lots of wasps while climbing in FL.  They  just buzz
> around aimlessly up  to around 70-80 ft, then no more.  The  ones that you
> have
> to worry about are the ones inside the tower legs of the  sections stored
> on
> the ground.  You don't see them until you start moving  the tower...then
> the
> fun starts.
>
> Bill KH7XS/K4XS
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk at contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>