[Jezzie]

Hi all,
Just washed a load of sahara dust off the car and banged the antenna (not very hard) and it broke off. Got a feeling it might have been glued together. Anyway I'm trying to work out what exactly has broken. Is it the male threaded bit on the end of the mast or the female threaded bit on the top of the amplifier? See pictures:
Hoping it's the cheap bits!
Jez
p.s. I did find this thread and I THINK it's the make threaded part broken inside the amplifier female thread. Sounds like fun getting the broken bit out :-(

 

[Jezzie]

You might be able to reverse drill the threaded part out and replace just the antenna but would probably be worth just getting an upgrade stubby kit and sorting that bodywork while it's out.

So in your opinion, the male thread has broken off the end of the mast and is inside the female part on the amplifier?
Looking at a new mast, the threaded part seems to start at the face of the mast bottom, so it might be that the female part from the amplifier has sheared off and is tight on the threaded male part of the mast. (I can't shift it, but it's soaking in wd40...) What do you think?

 

[Jezzie]

OK, I've been hacking at it. It was certainly the female end (amplifier end) that has broken. I've removed the broken bit from the end of the mast and got back to a clean male M5 thread on it. Hooray I saved the £15 part and it's only the £115 part I have to replace! But as it's toast anyway I'm going to try and drill and tap the amplifier end and fashion some sort of threaded pillar to join the two...
Jez

 

[Jezzie]

Well I'm always up for a bodge lol. You could get a suitable threaded insert. Solder it to the metal inner part of the base. Then pour epoxy to fill the void surrounding it. Don't do that though.

Already ordered some brass pillars! Going to try drill-and-tap.

 

[Jezzie]

I broke mine too. I ended up buying and replacing the whole thing. I think that's impossible to glue this together and retain functionality.

Yup, I’m resigned to buying another but costs nothing to play at fixing it!
How difficult was it to access and remove/replace?
Jez

 

[Jezzie]

OK, I fixed it and I think it's fully working. (Well I can receive all the usual radio stations but with the diversity function of the RNS-E and the 2nd antenna in the boot it was still receiving fairly well with no aerial at all)

I got a brass pillar with M4 threads and retapped the female end M5 to fit the aerial screw.

I drilled and M4 tapped the broken socket of the aerial amplifier and screwed it all together.

For mechanical stabiity I mounlded some Sugru where the original plastic was and refitted the conical shroud.

Screwed in the aerial and hey presto!

 

[Jezzie]

That's some real nice handiwork there!

I'd never even heard of this Sugru stuff TBH. Looks like it's kind of like JB Weld putty but instead of hardening like metal it sets and remains soft/flexible? Will have to keep that stuff in mind in case I ever have such a use case!

Yup. Rather than explain just Google it… 😀