Laird BB4505CS UHF whip antenna starting to crack

[mbnv992]

Good day !

I’ve had my Laird Technologies BB4505CS 450-470 MHz 5dB 5/8 Wave Black Antenna w/Spring for about 6-7 months and I can already see it starting to crack near the base / under the spring. Is this normal ? Never sent it through any car washes / anything tortuous. Took a pic of what’s going on with it -

 

[mrkelso]

They are making them with cheaper lighter materials. I would write the company.

 

[mbnv992]

I bought this antenna from the Antenna Farm so I sent the an email telling them the issue. I highly doubt they will be able to do anything. Might have to contact Laird.

 

[tunnelmot]

That's highly disappointing for a Laird. Along with Larsen they are my go-to for mobile installs.

 

[mbnv992]

I called up the Antenna Farm and they are sending me a new coil under warranty. When I get the new base in, I guess the spring part unscrews and the base of the coil ( never took one of these apart before I didn’t even know the spring can unscrew from the base ) , I’ll put the spring / whip antenna on the new base and call it a day.

 

[mmckenna]

I called up the Antenna Farm and they are sending me a new coil under warranty. When I get the new base in, I guess the spring part unscrews and the base of the coil ( never took one of these apart before I didn’t even know the spring can unscrew from the base ) , I’ll put the spring / whip antenna on the new base and call it a day.

Yeah, the spring will unscrew from the coil. Easy swap out.

That's too bad it failed. would be interesting to dissect it and see what happened. Wondering if there was some water intrusion and it froze?

I've been running some Laird half wave VHF antennas on UTV's for many years. They get subjected to 30-50MPH tree branch strikes and I've never had any of them fail. I've gone through culverts where the whip/spring were bent over 90º, and no damage. I have heard others complain about the coils cracking, but never seen it myself.

 

[mbnv992]

Living in AZ the only thing I could think about is maybe the sun baked it too much and ended up cracking ?

Then again, I also have a 5/8th whip in VHF that’s exactly as old as this UHF one and it’s been through much worse ( whacking parking garage structures, tree branches, etc etc ) and the coil on that one still looks like new so I have no clue haha

 

[mbnv992]

Ok ! Follow up on this post. Got the new base in from the Antenna Farm. The new coil is on the left in both pictures. The new coil also has a white underline for the “Laird” name, while the older one has a blue outline. No idea if the coil itself is any different. I just switched them out and put the new one on my car. I’d still love to know what happened that made this old one crack like this.

 

[devicelab]

IMHO, the stress crack suggests [the antenna] was hit from the opposite side. One thing that surprised me was discovering how strong tree branches can be and how much damage they can do -- even small ones.

 

[tunnelmot]

Not directly related...but I like the blue swoosh logo better

 

[mbnv992]

Me too. The blue does look better IMO.

Also - my 5/8th Laird VHF antenna also has the newer logo on it with the white underlining and “connectivity” under it - and I bought it the same time as my UHF antenna. This VHF model is almost a foot taller and has definitely smacked into a TON of stuff over the last 6-7 months it’s been on my car and the base of it still looks like new. The UHF antenna vary rarely hit / smacked into anything so I still have no idea why that cracked at the base and the VHF one is still working great.


I put the new one on the car today and the performance is actually better too. I didn’t think the small crack at the base would effect the range / reception at all but I guess it did a bit.

 

[scanbc780]

Every one I’ve ever had cracked even back when they were Antennex. I may still have some of them around in my antenna pile.