cracked vhf aerial

[crocodile 0]

My handheld vhf aerial cover has cracked and so I have taped it up with insulation tape. Will this affect transmission. Or receiving?

[ynot 40]

Only if you use it

[wheels 543]

Yeah all the radio waves in storage will fallout onto the floor.

No the insulation tape won't hurt it, nor the crack as such...BUT! It depends on what else is cracked or why the crack occurred in the first place. If dropped or bent or whatever physically cracked the aerial has also broken a wire of connection inside it, then of course it is going to be compromised. So you need to ensure the Aerial is still totally OK.

[crocodile 0]

I did also tape up the coil aerial.. sarky buggers! Thanks for your answers though!

The aerial itself if fine, just the plastic sheath cracked in half, presumably bumped, bent and cracked. The vhf has spent about 99.9% of its life indoors so it a bit dissappointing that the cover seems to have gone brittle anyway and now cracks easily?

And it is discontinued!

[wheels 543]

Can you peel the cover off completely? If you can, do so and then completely encase the Aerial in Silicon Sealant. If you could make a mold of the ruff shape of the aerial and then insert the inner workings into the mold filled with Silicon, you could have quite a nice flexi Silicon whip.

Ooops, I hope KM doesn't see that

[Dusty 0]

Another option is to use the rubber self amalgamating tape for minor repairs, better than ordinary insulation tape. Best not to use heat shrink as some of it attenuates rf energy like crazy.

[Guest]

Heavy duty, glue lined heatshrink

[S.M.U. 15]

If the antennae dies you could try Pacific Aerials down in Akl as they do replacement ones with BNC, SMA or TNC connectors. Hopefully yours is one of these types.