[Premium-Rx] Keeping rodents off coax

[Geoff Fors]

Terry, forgive me for what may have seemed like making light of your plight
with the repetitious e-mails, which was actually directed at life on the
Internet in general rather than you.  I hope that you receive only one copy
of this one.  Apparently some server along the backbone got stuck in a loop
and you were the victim.

Regarding the coax, there are many animals which will chew it up.  Deer,
opossum, rats, mice, and others. The rat has teeth which are in a continuous
growth mode and by nature it has to constantly gnaw on things to keep alive.
One daring assassin rat managed to gnaw the plastic master cylinder
reservoir completely off on my Toyota Landcruiser, all in one night, and
apparently only left after getting a bath in brake fluid.

The usual method is to bury the cable about a foot down, but then you have
the gopher possibility and RG-6, as I recall, is not rated for direct
burial.  A solution might be to bury it inside PVC or ABS pipe with the
usual trap elbows at each end as shown in some of the ARRL handbooks.

Rats and mice avoid clear areas like the plague.  This is why most better
managed radio stations and communications firms have clear, graveled areas
around their remote buildings and tuner shacks.  Foliage and weeds
surrounding your cable will give rats natural cover to have a long go at it.

I don't know of a permanent coating that would deter chewers but this
reminds me of something else.  An old CIA trick is Tabasco sauce.  No animal
known will touch anything with Tabasco on it.  A popular dead drop was to
use a defunct rat and stuff your papers or microfilm inside him, and throw
him in the gutter at a strategic street corner.  Problem was, cats or other
animals could run off with the rat carcass for a little snack.  Solution was
to liberally slop the rat with Tabasco. Nothing would touch it after that.
I have also found that Tabasco is useful for training dinner table dog
beggars but I am not sure if PETA approves of that.

Geoff
WB6NVH