Archive

HowTo: Get rid of mosquitoes with FOSS

Well, this is kind of an experiment so, please, be skeptic and question this before believing nonsense, ok?

Recently, I downloaded an android app that claimed to make mosquitoes begone! I think it reproduces a 20 kHz sine wave and this, effectively; after ~25 minutes, scares away all mosquitoes.

So, good for us; FOSSers, that we have SoX; which even has a synth!

So, the command for it to generate this same frequency is:

play -n synth sine 20k

So, my petition is: please try this out. It should start working after 25 min of play. Maybe less if you turn up the volume. Don't worry; you won't hear a thing.

Now some things to do in order to ensure you're doing things the right way:

  • Be sure to try it out with 2k first, so you can hear it. Set the volume to a level that is audible in your "affected area". Turn it up a bit loud in fact.
  • Use good quality speakers. Most speakers claim to have a 20 Hz - 20 kHz response. This is partly true; they respond to higher/lower frequencies but in a decayed volume.
  • Try it a few times. Stop; try again.
  • Be observant of the mosquitoes behavior.

This is important to me. This is a major solution for me; in my area. So, let me know your findings. Comments are open to all.