Hillside South Trespasser!
We were prepping for the move of the WX3in1 APRS system to our Hillside South location. Part of the prep included a need to make a site visit to evaluate the antennas on site using our Array Solutions antenna analyzer unit (this is a nifty tool).
I headed up to the site on Saturday, Oct 7, just after the Simulated Emergency Test shut down.
When I arrived, I found the site had been infiltrated by at least one pesky squirrel. The bugger got into the shack via the feedline access point. He’d made a dandy nest just inside, which wasn’t really a big deal, but he also decided to chew through a power cable to the MESH node (exposed the neutral wire), and also chewed into an Ethernet cable. No real harm done this time around, but we sure need to evict our trespasser before more damage is done!
I cleaned up the mess, replaced the power cable, and talked to Bruce, KL7QN, our gracious site host. Bruce reported that they have indeed been overrun by squirrels this year and he and his wife were forced to take some action. They picked up a couple Havahart traps this summer and rounded up 16 of these little buggers! There were humanely relocated to a more suitable country habitat!
There’s a good chance Bruce got the little guy that had made a home in our radio shack. We’ll need to make some changes to the cable access point to keep these furry fiends out in the future!
We’ll keep you posted.
Kent, KL5T
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