Insect Repellers

Moth

Motorola

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Lately we'd been having a lot of problems with insects fouling the front of the Jeep.  They become embedded in the paint and are very hard to remove without causing damage to the paint finish.  I decided enough was enough and went in search of a product that would help me get the situation under control.
Bug Repellant The solution came from an unexpected source.  My kids had attended some sort of function and a pair of Motorola Insect Repeller prototypes were given as door prizes.  They look like rubber kids toys but in reality they are state-of-the-art devices.  Like deer whistles that you attach to the front of your vehicle, these devices are guaranteed to prevent insects large and small from becoming road kill on your nose.
Anxious to give them a try, I assembled a beta-test team, and we installed the prototypes according to instructions.  I was quite surprised to find that some early tests had been performed on Jeep Wranglers and hardware was included for mounting the Insect Repellers to the front tow hooks!

Bug Repellant

Motorola  B-C HEBG0N3

(Manufacturer Part No: 98411a)

Installation time was about 10 minutes.  We had to plug in our SWB meter to tune the two devices so that the harmonic beam that occillates between them is in synch with the parametric bandwidth that insects use for early warning systems.  I made an adapter to allow the reuse of my short CB cable, and soon the SWR was down to an impressive 2.3, about as good as I would be able to get with the winch in there

Paul on Rock

The kids were really excited and wanted to test them out right away, so we planned a trip to GWNF, and ran some tough tests while we were on the trail.

Preliminary results look very good.  We did have some initial problems with interference with the TBS, but I installed a diode inline with the Insect Repeller power and the problem seemed to go away.

The concept of operation for these devices is quite simple:  Insects approach the oncoming Jeep, headed for the light of the headlamps.  Protection is two-fold.  First, the parametric frequencies confuse the insects into thinking that the lights are really black, and the blackness around the Jeep is really light.  They are fooled into flying around the vehicle. 

Of course, some sub-species of dragonflies are not succeptible to this band of radio transmissions.  For these insects, the appearance of a large insect impaled on the tow hook, even at high speeds, is enough to scare the insect away, thinking that it will soon join its "fallen comrade".

Ted with the Bug

Tomi and Paul with Bug

We did have some problems with the installation though.  The first run resulted in a temporary failure.  One of the Bug Repellers was accidentally knocked off when the winch hook was removed from it's home on the tow hook shared with the Insect Repeller.   We didn't know it was gone until we got a peculiar RF interference using the Weather Radio on Band 2.  We were fortunate that we checked the weather, or we might have been unable to track back and locate the missing device.  I was able to recover it and make a trail repair.  We will reinstall it back at the lab and conduct more testing.

 But for now, it looks like it works.  The front grill and radiator area, including the headlights and trim rings are free of dead insects.  We have observed the insects flying wide paths to avoid us as we approach, and once saw a large swarm that was so spooked that they got sucked into a snorkel on a nearby Peterbilt.  It was incredible to watch that big rig come to a grinding halt because of a swarm of mosquitos! New Mod - Bug Repellant

Kids and new Mod

I am hoping that the manufacturer comes out with some new colors because the ones we have are a little bit plain.   With something as impressive as this installed, I would like people to notice it.  Perhaps a secondary circuit can be developed that will allow illumination for better night running?

 

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