[TowerTalk] Birds and the Leaning Tower

[StellarCAT]

my experience has been that rotating only works for a while- they get use to 
it ... I've had literally hundreds of birds on antennas at one time ... 
never had any damage...but here in my new location in upstate SC I have 3 
VERY large turkey vultures in the back corner of our 11 acres ... near the 
back tower - I'll probably need to get rid of them before finishing the 
planned 2 towers with stacks... I absolutely DON'T want damage to those 
antennas.

I wonder if one could run a dacron rope - well no - good idea but it 
wouldn't fully cover everything - I was thinking of running a 1/8" dacron 
rope taut between the ends of the boom about 3" above it - this would keep 
them from at least landing on the boom I believe... but I'd rather have them 
land there then on the elements.

I had read somewhere - was it on here? To hang a CD on a string - drill the 
CD offset from the center so that it constantly twists - and the reflections 
will ward them off ... not sure if that would work all the time but might 
work during daylight hours. Seems birds tend to 'sit' on lines at sunset so 
that probably wouldn't work then.

Maybe a wireless speaker? Play predator bird sounds through it? Cannon?

The problem is whatever you do needs to be constant - so anything that 
involves yourself isn't going to work as they'll just be there when you're 
not.

Gary
K9RX



-----Original Message----- 
From: Tom_N2SR
Sent: Tuesday, August 2, 2016 12:15 PM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Birds and the Leaning Tower


Same here.   I normally see the turkey buzzards after a morning rain or when 
there is dew, when they will sit at the top of the mast and at the ends of 
the boom with their wing unfurled, probably trying to dry them off.   One 
time I think I had 8 of them up there.   I wonder if it's good luck?
Since the feedline to the 2 element 40 is under the boom, there are no 
issues with claws damaging it.   When I installed the C31XR at 80 feet, and 
the feedlines wrap around to the top side of the boom (because of the ring 
rotator), I placed a piece of Dacron rope between the boom truss and the 
boom (vertically) to keep larger birds from trying to land there and 
damaging the coax.
I've never had a problem with a large bird trying to land on any of the 
elements.  Maybe they have tried in the past and have felt that it was 
unstable.
They also do not like to be "rotated."   After once or twice they typically 
go somewhere else.
Tom, N2SR

      From: "john at kk9a.com" <john at kk9a.com>
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 2, 2016 11:33 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Birds and the Leaning Tower

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

my