A REMINDER FROM ABA’S LARRY WILKINS
As a reminder of the importance of being attentive while conducting transmitter visits during the summer months, be aware that snakes are looking for places to hide from the sun. The compounded problem with them slithering into your transmitter room, is then they get cold from the cement floor, so they look for somewhere to warm up. Then, of course, they end up getting coiled around your coils and… well, see for yourself. Last year, Pecos Valley Broadcasting GM Gene Dow ran into that exact problem and documented it for the NMBA. Thanks, Gene!
As a helpful hint to keep snakes out of your transmitter building, seal entry points by using door sweeps and weather stripping to seal off gaps under your doors. Learn the ways snakes can enter and make sure all points that a snake might use are sealed up tight. Ground up Epson Salt around the outside of the building is an ecologically sound option to repel snakes.
April is a great time to do spring cleaning around your property and create the spacing that can help protect your home from critters AND wildfires. Be sure to keep the site around your building tidy. Snakes like to slither beneath scrap metal, wood piles and trash, and within tall grass. Remove any construction debris, and stay on top of your landscaping maintenance. Reducing your fire threat by creating removing lower branches on nearby trees to increase the vertical spacing from the ground. And clean up dead vegetation that gets trapped against your structures making sure to remove fine fuels, such as pine needles, leaves or anything else that may ignite when exposed to an ember or flame.
