Dipole on Roof - Birds

We were thinking of putting a dipole antenna either in the attic (36ft wide), or on the roof of our house.

One thing I worried about was that I didn't want to hurt any birds if we had it on the roof. We're a bit limited in our neighborhood, because our lot is only about 4100 sq.

Maybe a silly question, but does anyone know if birds are often hurt running dipoles on a roof?

michy said:

We were thinking of putting a dipole antenna either in the attic (36ft wide), or on the roof of our house.

One thing I worried about was that I didn't want to hurt any birds if we had it on the roof. We're a bit limited in our neighborhood, because our lot is only about 4100 sq.

Maybe a silly question, but does anyone know if birds are often hurt running dipoles on a roof?

Click to expand...

I've had dipoles and end feds up for years without any bird issues.

I had a 240 foot dipole up for quite a few years.. The birds liked to perch on it

michy said:

We were thinking of putting a dipole antenna either in the attic (36ft wide), or on the roof of our house.

One thing I worried about was that I didn't want to hurt any birds if we had it on the roof. We're a bit limited in our neighborhood, because our lot is only about 4100 sq.

Maybe a silly question, but does anyone know if birds are often hurt running dipoles on a roof?

Click to expand...

Are you concerned about transmitting and the RF hurting the birds, or from the birds flying into the wire and being injured?

Bigger birds might be a problem, I had a turkey that flew through my yard take one of mine out.

mmckenna said:

Are you concerned about transmitting and the RF hurting the birds, or from the birds flying into the wire and being injured?

Click to expand...

High voltage power lines don't seem to bother them.

michy, about 30 years ago I had a small antenna farm out by my shack; and the birds would land on them and fly away. Had owls land on the bigger antennas at night, but never caused any damage.
As far as RF radiation while transmitting, well, never noticed any going crazy, or falling down dead. Usually they don't stay long enough to get hurt with the radiation, (I was never the type to hold down the key and talk endlessly, plus I never ran power greater than 100 watts).
If you're going with a vertical antenna, you shouldn't have any problems. (birds have keen eye sight!)
Horizontal, they more than likely will land there...

I'd imagine that running high power could expose birds to a dangerous amount of RF. A solution could be to set up a plastic net around the antenna?

Just to add.. I've had dipoles of different sorts up for many years. (14 years at my current location). I've never seen a dead bird on the ground under one. If they are a hazard, it's not a dire one.

I've also got some diaper poles up as well, no bird issues.