Is it supposed to be bent like this
Is it supposed to be bent like this
Nope.
Option #1 is call the company you ordered from and they'll either arrange an exchange or make you go through shipping company insurance claim.
or
Option #2 When I got a little wil a few years ago in a similar condition when it arrived due to poor packaging, I took a vice and managed to straighten the whip out.
Then bend will make the SWRs harder to tune and may slightly hamper your antenna radiation pattern. While the CB wavelength is large and something like that may have minimal real world effect, it is not optimal and not how it was supposed to arrive for the assembly line.
This is as straight as I could get it without a vice...
Do you think it will be ok?
Can't see your pics, but I agree that you should call the supplier and see about a return. I bought one off of eBay and it came bent. The dealer was awesome about it. Sent me a replacement immediately, in a rigid tube, even though I had declined the insurance. I shipped the return back in the same tube.
In real world scenario's... after your work on straightening it out... there would be about .00003452% impact on your antenna... aka... no impact really.
With that said... I would so have sent it back before you fixed it, or even now.. show them the picture, and what you could do... but you want a refund and see what they do. Even if there is NO impact, that doesn't mean it should be 'Ok' to be sent to you like that.
Yeah...
You guys realize that the antenna can bend a lot more than that if you're tooling down the road at 80-90 MPH with a good 20 MPH headwind...
I say if you think it's pretty enough leave it alone, if it has to look perfect then ask for a new one. Personally I'd leave it as it is instead of dealing with getting a replacement.
Yeah but a full whip minor arch is entirely different than a sharp angle change, the way it is now would be what I consider entirely acceptable for performance. Take a good inspection and make there's no sharp kinks in the metal. Kinks bends and loops (the reason you don't coil excess coax) are all things that can effect the resistance of flow of electricity through the wire and in turn increase your SWRs.
And for what AirMoore's sentiment is I completely agree, however, returns by mail are a PITA so if I know how to make something work and it's an easy fix that's worth my time then I'd just as soon handle it on my own and use my $$ in future purchases to support those that do things well and make careful recommendations on vendors as a result. As I seem to be buying just under 10 radios per year for personal use (between HAM CB GMRS) and then many of the accessories that relate to them that can add up fast before you get into the recommendations that I make to people across a variety of forums and in life.
So my antenna was sent bent, the magnetic mount i ordered for the antenna was never processed and here is the latest update on my PC-68...
July 26, 2010 12:00:00 PM Portland OR US Delay in delivery due to weather or natural disaster-----WTF?
July 22, 2010 03:05:00 AM Portland OR US Departure Scan
July 22, 2010 01:18:00 AM Portland OR US Arrival Scan
July 21, 2010 08:30:00 PM Albany OR US Departure Scan
July 21, 2010 07:07:00 PM Albany OR US Shipment received by carrier
July 21, 2010 08:28:57 PM US Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit
FML lol
That really sucks! Luckly I have a shop near me that I can go in and buy from directly. Sure they are a little more but I get it right away.
CB finally came woot woot!!
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