Is a bent Antenna a Problem?

[scanrrman]

I have a RS 800MHz that I used to have on a pro-95 that has been dropped a could of times and has bent the antenna at the base. I know, I know, it was an accident, they happen!! It had bent at about a 45 deg. angle at the bottom base of the antenna where skinny middle meets bottom big ( "skinny male center to bottom fatter female) ha ha ha you get it.... I just bent it right back to straight as best I could. It happened about twice. My question is... does the fact that it's now bent up or has been bent affect the reception or integrity of the antenna???????
Thanks

 

[trap5858]

As long as the wire inside is intact, it should not be an issue. Hopefully the center conductor in the BNC connector has not been damaged.

 

[N4JNW]

Be careful with the center "needle" of the BNC. I had that BREAK OFF inside the scanner's BNC female one time... Not fun to get out...

 

[scanrrman]

Yeah, I had a telescoping one that had fallen over and the center pin broke off.
I see a lot of "COPS" that have officers that had horribly bent antennas but they were in there own city w/ better reception than 10 or so miles away.
Just curious
Thanks!!

 

[bwhite]

Albeit on the vehicles, I see them purposely bend the antennas around here.

 

[N4JNW]

They do here too.

There's a few patrol cars in my area that have the antenna mounted on the top/side of the rear fender. Right beside where the trunk lid gap is. Being angled, they bent the bottom of the whip to make the antenna stick up "straight", even though the base is not.

 

[rescuecomm]

Bent antennas can be a problem depending on the construction. I have found that crimping the coils of a vhf walkie talkie antenna at the base can seriously detune it. If the antenna is just a length of wire as in a UHF WT 6 inch whip, as long as continuity remains through connector, they seem to work okay. I have bent UHF/VHF mobile ham antennas just about the base coil to keep it out of the other lane of traffic and found the SWR to be unaffected.

Bob

 

[kb2vxa]

Hi Scan and readers,

Never mind all the talk, it either works or it doesn't, right? Consider your question answered.

You WILL respect mah authoitah!

Shut up fat a**!

(;->)

 

[bwhite]

RCA, Looks like you're off your meds again
Anyway, even if a bend does impair a transmitting antenna, more output power can overcome the impairment. Regarding receiving, I'll leave that opinion to the many expert posters here.