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If you have a thin antenna like the Comet SMA-24 or SMA-503 you may be worried that it will snap off.  Mine look like they will, and a friends did.  Fortunately for my friend it was as he was signing in at a ham fest, so he was able to get a replacement, but he was not happy.

If you are in the field and your antenna breaks you may find that your radio is little more than a paper weight.  By adding a little heat shrink  around the base of the antenna you can dramatically improve its lifespan.

The design flaw as I see it with these antennas is that they are super flexible until they meet the base where a lot of strain can form.  The heat shrink will spread that flexing load out a bit and help prevent it from snapping.

I use multiple layers of heat shrink, all cut just slightly shorter than the layer underneath so that it gradually increases the flexing resistance and spreads the load out instead of it being centered on the point where the antenna connects to the base.

heat shrunk comet antenna