broken antenna? Will it still work?

[greenbuttskunk]

My "guest" on my boat this weekend managed to snap my shakespeare antenna in half. The cable is fine, the the glass is broken. I wonder if I can just throw a glass split over it, or will it cause some kind of interference or give me weaker reception? Anyone know for sure?
thanks,
GBS

[StickFish]

Depends on the antenna - shot me the model number and a pic of the antenna where it is broken - I just broke one yesterday - I elected to replace the antenna. After doing the post mortum it would have been fine if I had splinted it - just ugly.

All the fiberglass does is protect the inside from weather mainly rain.

How'd they manage to do that - I forgot to put mine down and backed it into the garage over hand and bowed and jamed it like a knuckle

[greenbuttskunk]

it lays across the gunwhale in the down position, and my buddy was hauling up a very full crab pot and snagged it somehow, but before I could yell, he just yanked the pot over into the boat. Snapola!

[BiteFactory]

My icom 402 manual had a warning about potential radio damage from transmit without an antenna. I'd guess that doesn't apply to broken antenna, but maybe it does?

[juniper]

if the antenna is that badly "broken", I would advise you to replace it, at least have the SWR checked. Using your radio without a antenna match will do your radio finals in.Then it won' t transmit.

[lostpuppy]

You need to replace it. It will not work very well, if at all. You could also fry the trasmit amp in the radio. It would cost you a lot more than a new antenna.

[StickFish]

GBS when we get together on the crab pot we can talk antennas. It really does depend on which model you have - yes transmitting without an antenna connected to the radio or an antenna that doesn't match the output of the radio (within reason) is a bad thing. However, depending on which antenna you have will govern whether the antenna will still work. For instance - Shakespeare Galaxy antennas use a sold brass or silver plated brass pipe to form their antenna elements - while they do have a piece of wire that goes further up the antenna it is usually constructed from the center conductor of marine coax - glad to show you the inerds of my Digital Antenna I broke.

If you have a lower end Shakespear like the 5206, the entire antenna element is made from flexible coax instead of pipe and uses a small matching stub to balance the antenna.

One more time the white fiberglass is not an electrical component of the antenna it is merely a radom that is transparent to the antenna - or simply a support/weather resistant structure.

Maybe we should just meet at where you boat is, I'll drag my SWR meter along and we can check it - do not let it get wet inside that radom - wet coax stays that way.

In the grad scheme of things - if it was my life depending on that antenna I would replace it and not risk it - antennas are cheap. If you do replace it Shakespeare Galaxy series or Digital Antenna 500 Series - yes more money, but they are better antennas (unless you mistreat one like I did :grin

Edited to be easier to read

[greenbuttskunk]

stikfish,
was that english you just wrote? :grin:
I kinds get what you are saying though. I beleive it's the lower end shakespeare antenna. Just glass, and the flexible coax cable inside. The boat is at the beach unfortunately, but I appreciate the offer anyway.
See ya soon on the pot.

[Tagster]

See ya soon on the pot.

Wow, you guys are really into sharing, huh?

[StickFish]

Sorry, I edited it a little to improve readability - darn radio dweebs - My BAD

Crab Pot - there Tag - sorry its not more juicy than that!

[greenbuttskunk]

tag!