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

To: Kimberly Elmore <cw_de_n5op@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Swapping out a T2X & Wasps...
From: Barry <w2up3@verizon.net>
Date: Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:13:36 +0000
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
Here in the northeast it's wasp and yellow jacket season.  I got stung 
on the side of my head while bicycling last weekend! 

This time of year I never do any tower work without carrying a can of 
spray up with me.  If it's bad, I delay the work until after the first 
hard freeze, after which they all die until next summer.  That may be 
your best bet.
GL,
Barry W2UP

Kimberly Elmore wrote:
> 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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>   

-- 

Barry Kutner, W2UP             Newtown, PA   

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