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48 Confirmed Kills

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LAN_403

Tesladownunder

Wed Nov 14 2007, 12:39PM

Registered Member #10 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 09:45AM
Location: Bunbury, Australia
Posts: 1424

At the start of hot weather flying ants love the shiny top of the toroid (well what do you expect of Queens?).

Most probably died acting as breakout points when they touched on my toroid.

7 of the confirmed kills landed on my plastic box sitting on the primary.

TDU

Dr. Drone

Wed Nov 14 2007, 02:50PM

Registered Member #290 Joined: Mon Mar 06 2006, 08:24PM
Location:
Posts: 1673

Tesladownunder

Wed Nov 14 2007, 03:06PM

Registered Member #10 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 09:45AM
Location: Bunbury, Australia
Posts: 1424

Even the big ants fly here. These are normally fast aggressive and vigilant ants that will turn towards you with a threatning pose. Nasty sting too.
This one was more quiet and I took about 30 pics of this flying bullant with my free hand while it crawled around on my other hand It mostly wanted to go up so I kept changing the tilt on my hand. The posturing would have been worth a YouTube video in its own right.

TDU

Herr Zapp

Wed Nov 14 2007, 04:46PM

Registered Member #480 Joined: Thu Jul 06 2006, 07:08PM
Location: North America
Posts: 644

Peter-

Very nice macro shot of the big ant; I assume that both that both the camera and the finger with the ant were unsupported during the shot?

May I ask what make & model camera was used?

(I'm shopping for a new digicam for use at work, and excellent macro performance is probably the single most important feature.)

Regards,
Scott Hanson

Dave Marshall

Wed Nov 14 2007, 09:58PM

Registered Member #16 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 02:22PM
Location: New Wilmington, PA
Posts: 554

The world's most elaborate bug zapper...

TDU, when they got hit was there anything to indicate they got hit? I imagine with enough power, they'd do a nice job of creating a little cloud flaming debris that could give the impression of 'ball lightning'.

(Note: Any discussion in this thread about ball lightning being caused by bugs will be laughed at, and then deleted)

Shan, we've got a great many talented photographers on the board. A thread asking just such a question would probably give you the best participation.

Dave

teravolt

Thu Nov 15 2007, 04:06AM

Registered Member #195 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 08:27PM
Location: Berkeley, ca.
Posts: 1111

your ant looks like Nothomyrmecia macrops or dinosaur ant or the bulldog ant, jack jumper. neat picture what part of austalia do you live

Tesladownunder

Thu Nov 15 2007, 07:24AM

Registered Member #10 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 09:45AM
Location: Bunbury, Australia
Posts: 1424

Dave Marshall wrote ...
... was there anything to indicate they got hit?

I don't really think they got "hit" and it is unlikely for there to be sufficient resistance /power to burn a flying ant. No balls of fire. Most likely scenario is they are flying above the TC, the e-fields give neural disruption and they fall onto the toroid then act as a breakout point and die.

Shan wrote ...
I assume that both that both the camera and the finger with the ant were unsupported during the shot?
May I ask what make & model camera was used?

Much twisting and turning from both hands. In many shots the antennae were too blurred as they flick around a lot.

Think carefully before you buy a camera. A good proportion of my website success has been able to take long exposure, low light photos with a digital SLR. I could not have done many of my shots with my other point and shoot cameras. It's not just the pixels, in fact 90% of the time people only see less than a 1MP photo (camera is 6MP).
Without the manual exposure option I would not have been able to take 3 of my top 4 photos and this more than anything sets my site apart from others. I was fortunate enough to win it because things were changed thereafter and I would not have had the opportunities that I have had.
I would buy a DSLR second hand rather than a new point and shoot if the money was the same.
It's a Nikon D70s, but that's not important as it's the manual/long exposure option and better low light capability that matters to me. Tripod is essential and remote triggering is important.

teravolt wrote ...

your ant looks like Nothomyrmecia macrops or dinosaur ant or the bulldog ant, jack jumper. neat picture what part of austalia do you live

The Bullant (Myrmecia gratiosa) was identified by an entomologist. South-western WA.

Mates

Thu Nov 15 2007, 12:09PM

Registered Member #1025 Joined: Sun Sept 23 2007, 07:53PM
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 566

I think that making a breakout point from a bug would turn it into ash! (even metal is beeing melted!). I think the important killing factors could be also the ozone, high temperature and maybe the UV light...

Despite it is probably the most unefficient insect killer I've seen I like it a lot

Tesladownunder

Thu Nov 15 2007, 12:27PM

Registered Member #10 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 09:45AM
Location: Bunbury, Australia
Posts: 1424

There was no visible corona from the toroid as I had a 2 foot rod that was making sparks. Also only very short runs.
I forgot to connect my earth initially and the coil was functioning outwardly normally. I noted the primary to sec arcing and connected the earth but the coil remained "wrong" and was triggering my safety gaps which have never fired before. I took a few flying ant photos during this.
I tried a shorter lead to the earth, 2 earths, counterpoise plus earth before I realised that a sparks had occurred across my rotary gap and had carbon tracked deep into the phenolic disk.
The pic shows the damage.
I have now used an angle grinder to gouge out the carbonised area and a similar sized one on the other side for balance.
Fingers crossed.
I would have killed the lot if I left it running for any length of time.

TDU

Spedy

Thu Nov 15 2007, 04:31PM

Registered Member #964 Joined: Wed Aug 22 2007, 12:39AM
Location: Stockton, CA
Posts: 134

>.< carbon tracking on your sparkgap? that stinks. Hope you can get it up an running again.

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