ADSB antenna + cockatoos

[Robert.M]

The other morning the winged vandals (cockatoos and not one or two, about ten of them) thought that my FR24 antenna and cable (LMR400) would be a great playground toy!

Having a scheduled blackout gave me an opportunity to do a bit of maintenance, including replacing the destroyed DIY airband antenna. Having got the mast down, I spotted three nicks but then I found the whopper of a nick! Thankfully the braid wasn't damaged too much.

I've since added a heap of self amalgamating tape to the damaged sections (help to keep water out) and used some outer casing from 1m of RG213 cable to give it a little protection.

The replacement DIY airband antenna was just a very quick (against all the textbooks) and crude design. It is poor with MEL CTR and CTAF (YSWG) but seems to do well for ACARS.

Anyone got any suggestions for both the cockatoo issue and the DIY airband antenna?

Sorry for the long post! Will post two pics shortly.

Before


After


Set-up

[Adrian B]

Try sticking some rubber snakes up there. Apparently works well for birds.

[Nigel C]

If you just throw snakes up there and leave them, they'll very quickly get used to them and probably start chewing on the snakes too. My years of doing bird management has taught me that you can't rely on any one method...there is no silver bullet to keeping birds/bats away from an area.

Try putting some aluminium foil strips on the gutter, get an owl decoy, tie lots of cable-ties around the antenna and cables but don't snip the excess bits to neaten it up.....if there's spikes sticking out in all directions it makes it harder for them to find an unobstructed part to perch on. Try tying some plastic shopping bags up there for noise value and a visual deterent. Tie some fishing line from your mast to all different directions and hang foil or plastic warning tape (like the stuff cops use at crime scenes....you can get rolls of it in red/white at Bunnings for not a lot).

Variety is the key. Change it up. Make it uncomfortable for them.

[Robert.M]

Have to say, the Wagga City Council tried that (Owl) idea.

Council was forced to install an automatic whistling bird-scarer after a cut-out owl did not deter the birds from gnawing on the building.

http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/st...r-street-mess/

The whistling bird-scarer didn't work either!

[Mick F]

I saw one of those weird looking birds on a stick at Melbourne airport the other day Nige. Not sure if it's keeping the birds away, but it's certainly keeping the flight crew occupied as we taxi past it.

Mick

[Nigel C]

Perhaps also try getting a bird of prey decoy, like a Peregrine Falcon statue?

Mick, can you take a photo next time you're taxiing past?

[Mick F]

I can try Nige. It's not on my side when we taxi out, and landing lately always seems to be Runway 16, so we don't pass it on the way in.

[Robert.M]

This time the cockatoos have taken me offline. They've attacked the capping to the antenna, allowing rain water to enter (which has reduced the range by around 50%).