Comments on: Not yet tested: Barbed wire, train tracks

by: Nico

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:23:00 +0100

@ Daryl: When the antenna on our car finally stopped extending, we replaced it with a coat hanger. Funny thing is, it was stolen off our car just a few days later (We live in NYC). I didn’t know coat hangers were so rare in these parts.

I’m going to have to try running phone or ethernet over random-crap-that-it shouldn’t-be run-over. My school has two parallel rows of metal lockers…

by: dulridge

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 07:20:08 +0100

Where I lived in southern Africa in the early 80’s the Army post near(ish)by had 140 miles of barbed wire to run its phones on. In the tropics lightning was a huge problem and all sorts of things got vapourised on a regular basis - hence the 140 miles of barbed wire from the exchange to the Army camp.

by: Daryl

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 14:04:15 +0000

Wire coat hangers also make good HF car aerials, especially when bent into an Australia-shape (without Tasmania). It also fits neatly into the hole left by the broken aerial.

by: DBT

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:29:06 +0000

We have current products that still use ARCnet to communicate between various components in a bus topology.

How would you terminate barbed wire?

Could this be the answer to Australia’s regional broadband development? A mesh network over existing fencing?

Includes inherent warning system: Internet down = gate left open … somewhere … livestock escaping.

by: Chazzozz

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:31:44 +0000

Hmmmm…razorwire Ethernet cables….I like that idea! Maybe that would convince users to keep their **%&$!! hands of of them.

by: jwaddell

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:18:23 +0000

Were the tests conducted after first freezing the wires for 24 hours and then enclosing them in a vacuum tube lying on a sand bed? If not, the tests are hardly valid - the manufacturer’s recommendations have to be followed to the letter!

by: Anthony Hersey

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 07:56:59 +0000

See, you have to pay extra to violate Ohm’s Law.

by: Stark

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 02:45:22 +0000

Hmmm… running signal over barbed wire reminds me… does anybody else around here have expereince with ARCnet? I can verify that you can run ARCnet on barbed wire (as well as speaker wire, coat hangers and welded together paperclips). See, we had a lab and weren’t particularly busy much of the time…

by: brotherscrim

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:33:45 +0000

Well sure, but that effect has an inverse-cubed relationship to the barbed-wire’s proximity to the guitarist’s biceps.

I mean, by the time you’ve got it all the way over to your home stereo setup, it’s negligible at the very best.

by: JsD

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:10:48 +0000

It’s not actually a fair test, anyway. Extensive empirical research demonstrates that metal is enhanced considerably by the presence of barbed wire.