Frank Alforo wrote:
"But a bird can perch on my antenna wire while I transmit 100 watts and
it stays there seemingly without a care in the world."

Frank isn`t using enough power. I worked in a shortwave broadcasting
plant filled with 50 KW and 100 KW DSB fully modulated transmitters.
Our relatively flat transmission lines were of the 2-wire unshielded
600-ohm variety. These lines must have attracted countless tired
migratory birds to alight or try to alight. When a bird would try to
grasp a wire, it would instantly be consumed in a puff of smoke and
steam. No carcass fell to the earth. Poof! it was gone. Many times their
claws were left behind gripping the wire leaving us a record of the
bird`s visit. Many wires were covered with bird claws. RF can kill more
birds than cats can.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI