Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

How about battery-powered plastic owls, with a motion detector? One of those fastened to a corner fence post worked to keep birds away from a 16'x16' vegetable garden we used to have 11 years ago. When motion is sensed (birds), its eyes flashed and it played recorded whoo-whoo-whoo owl sounds.

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

<k4...@hotmail.com> Cc: topband@contesting.com Subject: Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax? How about battery-powered plastic owls, with a motion detector? One of those fastened to a corner fence post worked to keep birds away from a 16'x16' vegetable garden we used to have 11 years ago

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

in the conduit for a second run of cable. 73 Dave K1WHS - Original Message - From: Guy Olinger K2AV To: Dave Olean ; TopBand List Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2015 5:49 PM Subject: Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax? Gotta vote loudly with Frank on this one. I had to throw

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

Gotta vote loudly with Frank on this one. I had to throw away 480 feet of balanced "window" line (Wireman 554) that ran elevated from my tractor shed to the base of my 3/8 wl 160 inverted L over FCP. The spans were supported from trees a few inches away from the trunks. Very easy access to

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

Hi Dave, You might need to use a TDR to identify the extent of cable damage. Hopefully the flooded cable limited the extent of damage, but water can intrude quite a long distance into some brands of RG-6. All RG-6 is not created equal, far from it. Hopefully you have the good stuff! 73

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

I installed a pair of Beverages in 2007. They use DXE hardware and DXE window line. The coax was from a 1,000 ft spool of Commscope 5781 that I bought before leaving Chicago. The coax lays on the ground; one run is about 150 ft, the other about twice that. I just looked at the data sheet --

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

All of my transmission lines are buried except for the single coaxial cable that feeds my 6m long-boom Yagi. After 15 years, I have not experienced any problem with varmints chewing on any of my buried cables, despite being located in the dense North Florida jungle. However, the aerial coax

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

Dave, I converted to phillistrand 6700lb about 25 years ago. At that time their termination was with 4 cable clamps at each end. They were torqued to 25 ft/lbs as per instructions. I have 80ft Rohn 45G with a Telrex 20M546 at 81 ft, Hygain 153BAS at 90 ft and a 103BAS at 100ft. My phillistrand

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

Dave: I have problems with squirrels and rats at my farm with the wiring systems on my tractors. They chew the wire up to sharpen their teeth. I know you cannot do this for a thousand foot run, but what I did to keep them away from the wiring harnesses I put a bag of moth balls in the

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

If all Polyethylene is indeed critter resistant, that seems like a good clue; before buying outdoor coax, check the jacket material on the mfg. data sheet. Other than that, how do we tell for sure what our coax jacket material is? And aren't there different formulas and various hardness specs? I

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

Dave: For some reason, a lot of animals like to chew on or eat PVC. That is why cats chew on line cords. I had a run of RG213 on the ground in my suburban yard, Squirrels chewed through it 3 times in 5 years. I replaced it with a polyethylene jacket cable, and its been left alone for 7 years so

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

I had a pack rat problem, eating into cables and have completely cured the issue by running coax inside the inexpensive black tubing made for underground sprinkler systems. It comes in 100 and 500 foot rolls. To get the coax into the tubes cut the length you want… then either push an

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

Same here. W5UN On 11/10/2015 1:00 AM, Herbert Schoenbohm wrote: I use Phyllistran guy wires here but never run them to the ground as a simple brush fire could bring your towers down. Always have at least a 3O foot steel guy wire for the last section so you guys will survive. If you have

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

No one has answered the original question of "why do rodents eat coax" The reason rodents eat coax, and they like 50 ohm coax the best, is their digestive system is 50 ohms impedance, their SWR goes up otherwise. Bob K6UJ On 11/9/15 12:38 PM, Mike Waters wrote: Hi Dave, There are lots

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

Squirrels and rats can be a problem, but mostly my cable chew issues have been from raccoons. I used to trap them and deport them a few miles. Now I just I bury my cables. Even a few inches of dirt is enough. Where they come up out of ground, I sleeve them with cheap plastic sprinkler pipe.

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

Here you go. Hilarious, unless it happens to you. forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/insulation-eating-rabbits.268034/ 73, Mike www.w0btu.com On Mon, Nov 9, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Mike Waters wrote: > *Perhaps your coax has a soy-based plastic jacket.* > _ Topband

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

Hi Dave, There are lots of mice and squirrels here in the rural Ozarks, but they've never chewed on my Commscope flooded quad-aluminum-shield RG-6. (Yet. :-) *Perhaps your coax has a soy-based plastic jacket.* There are countless stories of rodents destroying the wiring harnesses of parked cars,

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

I had the same problem but on a much shorter run.I put the coax inside flared plastic pipethe type that slips togetherno glue needed. My problem solved. If I had a run as long as yours I think I would just cut out the bad length and put on F connectors. Just keep doing this to delay

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

Thanks, Mike. That sounds like what I have. It's shinier, too. 73, Mike www.w0btu.com On Mon, Nov 9, 2015 at 4:32 PM, Michael Clarson wrote: > Mike: I did say critter resistant, not critter proof, but so far, so good. > Polyethylene (PE) is harder, stiffer (but bends almost

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

Hi Dave I am currently rebuilding the RX antennas after rodents chewed meter-long sections of flooded RG6 away to the center wire before it was even operational. Now putting all the cables into PVC pipe laying on top of the ground -  over 300 meters of flanged pipe sliding over the cables one

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

I use Phyllistran guy wires here but never run them to the ground as a simple brush fire could bring your towers down. Always have at least a 3O foot steel guy wire for the last section so you guys will survive. If you have the unusual situation where some rodents will try to climb the guys

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

I have this same problem all the time, I tried to put a BOG out, made of teflon wire, thinking they would not eat teflon, it lasted a few days and was chewed In pieces, Coax the same, Latest I found is my phyllistran guy wires are all chewed near the bottom, herds of deer are the problem

Re: Topband: Why do rodents eat coax?

That's one of the reasons why Phillystran is not supposed to be run all the way to the ground. Isn't there supposed to be 6' of steel EHS between the guy anchor and the Phillystran? Teflon?! Maybe it tastes good with a little butter and salt. ;-) 73, Mike www.w0btu.com On Mon, Nov 9, 2015 at