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@aol.com> wrote:
> In a message dated 8/15/2010 4:49:18 PM Greenwich Standard Time,
> jim@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
>
>
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