[TowerTalk] Birds and the Leaning Tower

[john at kk9a.com]

Lately a lot of turkey vultures enjoy sitting on my upper antennas.  They
are fairly large and not very nice looking. I do not think that there is
any way to keep birds off. If the element turned on the boom you can
temporary fix it by tossing a rope around the higher end and pulling it
level. For a more permanent solution you may have to use better clamps. If
the aluminum physically bent it is either a soft grade or too small. An
element truss can also help.

GL
John


To:	<towertalk at contesting.com>
Subject:	[TowerTalk] Birds and the Leaning Tower
From:	Dave Leisman <w8qwdave at casair.net>
Reply-to:	w8qwdave at casair.net
Date:	Tue, 02 Aug 2016 10:31:34 -0400



Got a very different question for the group.  I have a couple of very large
antennas, one a 3 element 40 meter yagi and the other a 3
element full size 30 meter yagi.  My problem is the birds which hang around
these antennas.  I realize the antennas are a great place
for birds to land and scope out prey below, but the other day a rather large
bird tried to land on the end of one of the elements of
my 40 meter beam and bent it down almost to a 90 degree angle. Now I can
either
take the antenna down (no small job), fix it and re-
raise it, or I can hire a manlift (no small expense) and do it mid-air
myself.

Does anyone have any suggestions how I might keep the birds away from my
antennas so I can avoid this kind of hassle in the future?

Thanks in advance.

Dave, W8QW