Birds on antenna radials

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cb4ever104
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Birds on antenna radials

Post by cb4ever104 »

Hi All

Anyone got any tips to stop birds landing (and crapping) on the radials of my Sirio 827 .

Thx in advance

Sammy
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Re: Birds on antenna radials

Post by The Collector »

NLAW, Javelin, 12-bore, AK-47, M60....the choice is yours, depending on how strong your arms are ;)

What about some thick axle grease stuff. Gloopy enough not to wash off easily or be frazzled by the sun too quickly. I'm not sure if copper grease would block anything signal-wise, but I wouldn't have thought so???
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ch25
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Re: Birds on antenna radials

Post by ch25 »

As long it is not condor or turkey there is nothing to be worry about.
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Auldgeek
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Re: Birds on antenna radials

Post by Auldgeek »

I've long since given up trying to stop birds from sitting on my antennas. My main mast holds my 6m through to 23cms yagis, so there's literally dozens of elements for them to roost on.
I actually don't mind the small birds, it's our wood pigeons from "Bomber Command" that crap all over my garden.

I clean everything up on the mast when it's down for annual checks, but that's all I do.
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Re: Birds on antenna radials

Post by Alan Pilot »

Seagulls i have to put up with.
They crap all over and regularly fly into my antennas.
Little birds are welcome any time as said they do no harm.
Picture 25 or so starlings sat on my 7 band cobweb aerial it sure does wobble a bit lol.
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cb4ever104
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Re: Birds on antenna radials

Post by cb4ever104 »

Yeah. The sparrows are having a field day on my Sirio. I think I might try some grease on the radials to see if it makes any difference.

Sammy
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Paul aka "Sammy". (108) PY60 Old Paisley DX Group (RIP Rab Markie)
Ex GM0 , now EA5 .
Handle "Fortune Hunter" back in "the day"
Radios ....? Anything that says "TAIWAN R.O.C" on the back.
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Re: Birds on antenna radials

Post by The Collector »

Birds used to sit on our old neighbour's TV aerial above our drive, which the previous owner had allowed them to fit it up there on our house as we were on the end. A guy round the corner had bloody homing pigeons that'd adorn the thing. They'd crap that much, that my ex-wife's Metro looked like it had white polka-dot paintwork. I ended up moving the aerial and strapping it to their satellite dish mast as the sh** would eat into the car's paint as it hadn't long had a respray when we bought it.
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Re: Birds on antenna radials

Post by Transwarp »

Try a realistic looking bird of pray fixed near antennas. Failing that rig up a plant watering device with a sensor that sprays a stream at the area when birds trigger it.
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Re: Birds on antenna radials

Post by The Collector »

Yeah..a helium-filled Kestrel balloon attached to the top ;)
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cb4ever104
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Re: Birds on antenna radials

Post by cb4ever104 »

Transwarp wrote: 21 May 2022, 12:56 Try a realistic looking bird of pray fixed near antennas.
Tried that . Think the birds have crapped on that as well :) They're pretty smart .
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Paul aka "Sammy". (108) PY60 Old Paisley DX Group (RIP Rab Markie)
Ex GM0 , now EA5 .
Handle "Fortune Hunter" back in "the day"
Radios ....? Anything that says "TAIWAN R.O.C" on the back.
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Re: Birds on antenna radials

Post by cb4ever104 »

4 words . "Grease is the word"

Put some general purpose grease on the radials and they no longer land on them. Problem sorted 👍
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Paul aka "Sammy". (108) PY60 Old Paisley DX Group (RIP Rab Markie)
Ex GM0 , now EA5 .
Handle "Fortune Hunter" back in "the day"
Radios ....? Anything that says "TAIWAN R.O.C" on the back.
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Re: Birds on antenna radials

Post by The Collector »

Nice one.

The only other thing I could've suggested was a mesh/net hanging from about 4ft up over the ends of the radials like an upside-down Sigma basket/crow's nest.
The top would have to be gripped by some duct tape and a hose-clip over the top.
The downside could be though that the bird's legs night get tangled and you might have the odd dead pigeon hanging from the aerial!

Fingers crossed that's the end of the issue. Just re-apply elit every now and again as the heat will eventually dry the grease up.
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Re: Birds on antenna radials

Post by warhorse »

An old ham trick is to mount some type of bird of prey life size model on your set up etc'' seen a few Barn Owls weatherd and no 'birds around' :lol:
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cb4ever104
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Re: Birds on antenna radials

Post by cb4ever104 »

warhorse wrote: 30 Jun 2022, 03:37 An old ham trick is to mount some type of bird of prey life size model on your set up etc'' seen a few Barn Owls weatherd and no 'birds around' :lol:
Tried that . Bought 2 "owls" on Amazon , but the birds took about 20 minutes to figure out that they weren't real . The sit right next to it now :)
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Paul aka "Sammy". (108) PY60 Old Paisley DX Group (RIP Rab Markie)
Ex GM0 , now EA5 .
Handle "Fortune Hunter" back in "the day"
Radios ....? Anything that says "TAIWAN R.O.C" on the back.
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gmham
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Re: Birds on antenna radials

Post by gmham »

Best method I have read but never personally tried is to wrap small plastic cable ties in a criss cross pattern spaced along the length of the radials, works in the same principle as the spikes you see on the tops of buildings etc .
Can also confirm the plastic bird of prey idea works….for the first hour or so !!
Last edited by gmham on 01 Jul 2022, 05:57, edited 1 time in total.
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