Nice weekend, and vermin.

After a week of heavy winds and rain, we finally enjoyed quite nice weather for the centenary of the first direct Wales - VK contact over the weekend.

Unfortunately, the bands were terrible!  Kp was about 4, with the SFU bottoming-out at a mere 67.  Those on SSB were essentially finding nobody to talk to above 40m all weekend long. Luckily, a contact with VK was eventually made.  WSPR managed to get the message about our event rather more effectively, spanning the globe on 1W.
 
Here's my daughter, MW6PYS, who did some digital work, at the Cefn Du Marconi site, near Caernarfon.  I was pleased that she asked to go, rather than being pushed into it!

Sunny, but cold, at GB2VK.

After that event, I came home to find 12m was very active on Es yesterday.  Everything was working fine with the station.  Then I casually went to check things out in the garden, to find two coax outlet points chewed nearly all the way through!

I have always expected that a rat, mouse or some other invader might chew on my coax, but it has never happened in over 7 years of operating here.  What could be to blame?

The nibble marks were relatively small, and both cables had been chewed at the point they entered the wall.  It didn't look like the work of a rat, not least because a rat would not have been able to chew at that height, and in that way.  Rats also sharpen their teeth on harder material than very soft coax.

I thought it could be a rabbit seen in the garden, but I have had rabbits around for years as well.

Nibble, nibble!

It seems that the teeth were very small, so I think it was a mouse or similarly minor rodent.  I have been doing some maintenance on the house over the summer, and I think I may have made it more difficult for mice to get in to the roofspace through holes in old timber facing boards.  Well, that's the latest theory, anyway!

Luckily, one coax was redundant, and the other, to my 12m Yagi, had plenty of excess length, so it was easily cut and reconnected.

I've now tried to discourage further nibbling by wrapping each coax in split water hosepipe, and then wrapping stainless steel wire mesh around that.  Later, I will be buying an air rifle for a more permanent solution!

Protection until I get a gun!