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Quickies part 2


red750

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From the pen of Bill Wannan, master of the yarn ...

 

A local bushman was in the pub talking to a stranger, and the stranger commented on the bushmans Kelpie, saying he looked like a smart dog.

 

"Smart?", said the old bushman. "You ain't never seen a dog as smart as that one! He does nearly everything for me, at a signal, or a word!

"He brings in the cows at the right time for milking without being told, chases off the rabbits, fetches the mail for me, yards the sheep without missing one. He can count to twenty, knows every car that comes to the farm by colour and numberplate, and fetches every rifle I want, merely by saying the bore size! - yep, he's smart alright!"

 

"Well", said the stranger, becoming a little irritated. "If he's that smart, call him over, and I'll buy him a beer!"

 

"Now, fair go, mate!", protested the old bushman. "That's one thing I won't allow! It wouldn't be right, seeing as he's got to drive me home!"

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The Shoo-Roo is a device of a different colour. The ones I'm talking about simply rely on the passage of air through them to generate a sound. One should accept with these that their purpose is not really to scare animals away. In fact, most collisions with roos are caused by the roo being startled by the approach of a vehicle.

 

Just imagine, the roo is on the side of the road with its head down munching on the short sweet grass, fully occupied with the haute cuisine of its evening meal. Suddenly the area is lit up by the lights of the approaching vehicle. That is sure to scare the roo who gets confused and hops away. That "away" might be across the path of the approaching vehicle and then you end up with a collision.

 

It seems that, like the car horn, the device creates an unusual, for the roo, noise. This attracts its attention and it looks up, long before the vehicle is close by. You've got to give these roos a bit of credit. They usually live and travel along fixed routes, and when they are near roads, they encounter vehicles from a young age, and it would be reasonable to expect that their mothers teach them as well. 

 

So it's not the passing of the vehicle that spooks them. Given enough warning, they will be able to make the decision that the approaching vehicle is not a threat and keep munching.

 

I would like to see some investigative research done on these devices. What sort of frequencies do the produce? If the sound is created by the relative movement of the air* through them, how is the sound projected forward of the vehicle? I suppose it's a bit like the way emergency vehicle sirens can be heard as hey approach.

 

*Almost fell into the Angle of Attack argument, there.

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I've been driving outback for 40 years and had a few hits, plenty of 'close ones' and for the last decade I splashed out with 6 bucks at supercheap for a pair of black plastic whistles and my experience is they work. Will they save you from ever hitting a roo again, No, but if they reduce the incidence by my guess 80% well $6 well spent. I've mentioned it to many people and some say BS but others have agreed in a change in the behaviour pattern.

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1 hour ago, old man emu said:

If the sound is created by the relative movement of the air* through them, how is the sound projected forward of the vehicle? I suppose it's a bit like the way emergency vehicle sirens can be heard as hey approach.

 

*Almost fell into the Angle of Attack argument, there.

I guess that some sound is being projected forward as well as backward and every other direction - so unless you're driving at or above the speed of sound, some sound waves will be getting there before you.   How much, and whether it makes a difference, I have no idea.

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9 hours ago, old man emu said:

…Suddenly the area is lit up by the lights of the approaching vehicle. That is sure to scare the roo who gets confused and hops away. That "away" might be across the path of the approaching vehicle and then you end up with a collision.

Super bright driving lights contribute to their confusion; I don’t have any and drive to the conditions. A few km slower make a huge difference.

 

After I fitted Shoo Roos to my motorcycles and I never hit a roo.

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Driving to the conditions, 

I tried that on the road out of Burke, 15 ks under that limit !.

AND

The stupid sods jumped  into the lighted area of road, they must have thought it was a bit of sunshine. 

Five dead & my Bullbar  bent.

But still managed to get home. After following a bus ( coach, only to have One sit up from under the coach rear bumper

No whistles fitted.

spacesailor

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1 hour ago, Yenn said:

The sound emitted would change with changing speed. That is the reason a train whistle has a rising note as it comes towards you and a descending note as it receeds. Doppler effect.

Yes, Yenn. It is likely that the pitch would change as speed increased - that's why they say the devices only start being effective at, was it 50 or 80 ks?

 

It is not a change in speed of successive waves that changes the pitch (wave frequency) of an approaching siren. The emitted frequency at the source remains the same. It is the effect of the source "catching up" to the earlier waves in the direction of travel, and at the same time, moving away from those same earlier waves which are going in the direction of where the source has come from.


image.thumb.png.a38d814648f3f567ed82bb0666b2b405.pngimage.thumb.png.5ab72cea127bedf8465f6c9b0dc67bef.png

 

And for you number jugglers:

Using Doppler Effect to Determine Object Motion | DigiKey

 

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The frequency they create appears to be out of the range humans can detect. Obviously the only way to tell if these are a con would be to use a device that measures high frequencies to see if they did in fact create high frequency sound waves.

 

3 hours ago, pmccarthy said:

Those Roos must be pretty well educated to comprehend all that.

 

Oh, indeed. Many of them have attended Ulur. U

image.jpeg.8f7256d38ed7707e8702657513c269aa.jpeg

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Ashes to Ashes
 
They are quick!   And that’s not the bowlers.

 
Q What do you get if you cross the English cricket team with an OXO cube?
A. A laughing stock.
 
 Q What is the height of optimism?
A: English batsman putting on sunscreen.
 
 Q. What is the difference between an English batsman and  a Formula 1 car?
A. Nothing! If you blink you will miss them both.
 
 Q. What do English batsmen and drug addicts have in common?
A. Both spend most of their time wondering where their next score will come from.
 
 Q. What does an English batsman who is playing in The Ashes  have in common with Michael Jackson?
A.They both wore gloves for no apparent reason.
 
 Q. What is the difference between Cinderella and the Pommies?
A. Cinderella knew when to leave the ball.
 
 Q. What's the difference between the Pommies and a funeral  director?
A. A funeral director isn't going to lose the ashes.
 
I received sage advice from a medical friend of mine who quoted “ If you want a rapid test, play England”!
 

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The homeland cannot be so bad. Every day we see news reports of people trying desperately to get there. I can only wonder why as the best decision I ever made was to leave there 60 years ago. All those people in France trying to get a boat across the channel and the average Pom wants to go live in France. Surely they could do a swap.

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