mixed-mode propagation

Looks like toothmarks. So I'd go with the critter, yes.

Yes, but he obviously didn't like the copper. Or maybe he realized that it was a Chinese cable with a cheap and not very tasty steel core.

Squirrels. They will chew through the jacket of .750 CATV hardline, with 60 V from a CVT between the conductors.

As a kid my sister had a turtle named Kasimir (because he was Russian). Usually a very behaved turtle but one fine day ... bzzzt ... *PHHHOOF* ... lights out. After unplugging every power plug in reach and re-setting the breaker we saw Kasimir the turtle chewing. Next to him a power cord pretty much chewed in half. We quickly checked his little mouth and tongue but .. nothing. He just stretched and walked on.

This was the usual German 230V/16A circuit at 50Hz. No idea how he managed to do that and survive.

Robert Hanbury Brown, one of my technical heroes, had a somewhat similar problem with his intensity interferometer observatory in the Oz outback. His book has been out of print for 20 years or more, but there's a softcopy at

He talks about the way various birds were fascinated by their own images in the mirrors, and pecked at the surfaces until they were badly damaged. Others chewed on the coax cables, until he wrapped the cables with asphalt paper.

Nature is so inconvenient. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal Consultant ElectroOptical Innovations LLC Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

hobbs at electrooptical dot net

I think you mean G-line:

I can see a little piece of foil sticking out so my guess(tm) is that it's double shielded RG-6a/u and not cheapo RG-59. If you're interested, it's possible to buy rodent resistant or repellent coax cable: Belden also makes armored RG-6/u for where someone is likely to drive a fork lift over the coax run.

I prefer to use non-metallic flex conduit (Smurf Tube) and snake the RG-6a/u and CAT5 through the pipe:

Yep. A rat sharpening its teeth. You should have found rat or mouse dropping nearby.

I also see that under houses with phone wiring. Rats and mice will eat almost anything. I had a big problem with installers that munched while running cable through the walls and under the house. The cables were covered with scent of potato chips or whatever, which was where the critters would chew first. You may have had a food spill on the coax cable as I usually see teeth marks up and down the cable as the critter test samples the cable.

Hint: Try some aversion therapy. A few thousand volts on the center conductor should do the trick.

I have a family of robins in the neighborhood with a similar problem. Every year, one would land on the side mirror of my car, and attack his own reflection as if it were a rival bird. There was no damage to the mirror (not a front surface reflector). In its excitement, the bird would relieve itself all over the side of my car door. Bird dropping are mildly corrosive and not the best thing for paint and wax covering.

One year, I made a rather sloppy turn into a parking lot, and was soon confronted by the local highway patrol officer. When he asked for an explanation, I pointed to my bird dropping covered mirror and car door and indicated that this was the reason I didn't see the other vehicle. He shook his head in disgust, suggested I clean up the mess, and left in a hurry.

Pigeon droppings in the AT&T Holmdel horn antenna may not have been a problem, but me removing bee hives and wasp nests from radio towers is not my idea of fun. Also, it was not immediately evident that the piece of black coax cable moving across the blockhouse floor was actually a snake.

I had something similar at a friend's house. He had trouble with his ADSL. When I checked the wiring it turned out the pairs where not connected but it kinda worked (probably due to capacitive coupling or the electron fairy). He said someone had been working on his wiring but if everyone else fails he calls me to get it done right :-)

I was doing some work in my friend's cabin in the Ozarks. We had some sockets that didn't work, and started working on it. We found a piece of #14 Romex that had been completely chewed through! We had had problems with mice chewing through small appliance cords like to charge cell phones and flashlights, but this was pretty amazing. The critter survived as the main service breaker is shut off when the cabin is unattended.

I had no idea pack rats and such could cut through solid #14 wire like that.

Jon

For several years, we were troubled by "maniac bird" which would sit up in the trees on the east side of our house and hurl himself at the reflection every morning from about March through June. He would do this every 2 minutes or so for 3-4 hours straight. Sometimes he even damaged his wings enough that he couldn't fly for a couple days. We were amazed that the feral cats didn't get him, but I'm guessing he was more than they were willing to take on. This was a robin, i'm guessing it had to be a male.

Jon

"Hey, Bro, hold my worm."

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Isn't that what many football players do? :-)

I've had it where a rat made a hole through regular concrete slab. Stunned and out of ideas I asked at a HW store. "Oh, that happens. Make sure to mix small broken glass shards in when you fill that hole".

In 1957 we had a fire in the basement section of my Dad's hardware store, the section behind the TV shop where the CRT's were stored. Proved to be caused by rats chewing thru Romex.

The fire was mainly CRT boxes burning, with resultant "kabooms". The firemen were not happy :-( ...Jim Thompson

Well, that certainly exemplifies the engineer's attitude toward troubleshooting: think of all the possible design problems that could cause the fault and rush to fix them, without considering the effects of time, water, and (possibly) little critters.

I'd laugh at you, but I do the same thing all the time.

Oh, yeah, we know about the mice, etc. chewing up the insulation on the Romex, that's why he shuts off the main breaker when he's not there. The main feed is armored.

But, this was something that chewed through three #14 solid copper conductors cleaner than an axe.

Umm, yeah, that must have been a big mess! Not much you can do but stand at a distance and make it all very wet.

Jon

Yeah, my friend with the cabin is replacing all his Romex with armored cable due to this.

Jon

Yep. My uncle Wilmer was building a ChrisCraft (sp?) boat in that basement... it was floating when the firemen were through ;-) ...Jim Thompson

Depends. Who paid the officials.

That's what they're supposed to do.