Imax 2000 cracked right out of the damn box!

So glad I live in the UK where we have decent consumer laws so "send it to Solarcon" woud be met by "Under the Consumer Rights Act its your responsibility to sort it out and reimburse me for postage as well."

I feel lucky to have a local communications shop that stocks those. I’m a big Ebay buyer, but not with a long antenna like that. I heard rumors that UPS uses them for javelin practice. I could have saved a little over $30 by purchasing my Imax on Ebay, but I also wanted to help support our local shop. I strapped my Imax box to the roof of the car. My job was to watch out for deer on the way home. Deer around this neck of the woods have the notorious habit of landing on the roof after bashing the windshield, but I digress.

well you would had 2 items on your roof lol

I bought a Tram 2 meter and 70 cm antenna via Walmart.... I had my doubts about the thickness of the fibreglass tubing but so far has held up fine, two years. My Solarcon is pretty old now but was a thicker build where as the newer designs are far thinner and flex much more!
Pretty sure the new fibreglass is extruded through a die.... makes them thin as possible. Old builds seem to be layered wraps. I have a really old two piece Big Stick works well but needs a new coat of resin or sealer.... pretty fuzzy!

sonoma said:

did the box have any marks on it like it was mashed in shipping. the last time I saw one damaged like this it had been mashed during shipping.. at least that was what happened to the one I got years ago. the shipping company's are bad about just throwing things around and piling stuff on top of each other. they do not care what happens as long as they can get it in the truck. one time I had to go to UPS to pick up a item and they were just throwing boxes and packages around and letting them hit the floor.. I made a comment about what they were doing and they just said we have to hurry to get items unloaded. that is why you get boxes with corners crushed in

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They have a daily quota to meet so that means bust ass damn the customers... if you dont meet the quota you can lose your job. I went to an interview with UPS once to get a job at the local depot and was told that.

Postal service sorts their boxes like playing basketball

357 said:

wtf!

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After having a snow/ice storm, and below zero temps about 7 weeks ago my swr didn't only rise to a 3, but acted erratic.
I removed three feet of my LMR 400, and of course replaced the pl259.
I also bought a new imax 2000 (cheap ham.)
After removing the 3' of coax and replacing the pl259 the swr was 1.1:1.
That all changed last week after anoth snow, ice storm.
Although my swr isn't the 3 it was before removing the 3' and replacing the pl259 it's now a 2.
I'm going to replace the old IMAX with the new one. Unfortunately I have yet to open the box the IMAX is boxed in.
I don't think what happened in your situation is common, but I'm hoping that isn't the issue with my 2000. The antenna was purchased a month ago (@cheap ham) I don't think they will take it back if theres a problem with it out of the box. I should've opened it upon recieval, but it's not that easy for me, and figured on opening it the day of the install. My fingers are crossed that's for sure. I'd hate to waste $139 as I believe that's what I paid for it. Damn I hope there is no issue. Now that I'm thinking about it there was an issue with my first IMAX 2000. I opened it after purchasing it 3 weeks before. Like the first one intended to remove it from its box when it's ready to be installed. The issue with my first IMAX about 3 years ago was it's whip section would not thread into the antennas second section. The local "radio shop" I purchased the antenna from didn't have another IMAX in stock (yeah right) so he couldn't swap the top section from another IMAX. He also wouldn't take it back as I already owned it for a few weeks even though i just opened the box. He saw the problem as i brought both the middle and whip section it threaded into. He saw the threads we're defective. So he had to order a new whip section for me. I waited about a week. I was livid. I never purchesed another item from him again. It's not the first time I did business with him, but was certainly the last. I sure hope there isn't any issues with the brand new one sitting in my garage unopened. I'm going to replace the old IMAX with the new one, and replace both pl-259's on my lmr 400. I hope that Rectifies my high swr problem. If not atleat I'll know what isn't causing the issue. I'm convinced the antenna was damaged by the snow, ice, and below zero temps.. Until the problem is resolved I won't be and haven't been using my station. It drives me insane looking at an swr of 2. PS. I'm just one of those people who have no luck unless it's bad.

Sonar said:

After removing the 3' of coax and replacing the pl259 the swr was 1.1:1.
That all changed last week after anoth snow, ice storm.

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I'd wonder about that coax/connection.

tba02 said:

I'd wonder about that coax/connection.

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In all honesty I think you're spot on. It probably is the PL259. Since these aren't things I could do myself with any consistency (obviously) although I did try. I'm going to have a friend remove my 110 ft of LMR 400 and replace both pl-259's. I replaced the one on the inside of the shack many months ago, and probably did just as bad of a job as I did on the one on the outside. I did purchase that moisture rejecting coax tape that another member suggested I buy. And I did use it. But that's obviously not going to correct what I believe is a very bad pl259 install. I gave it my best shot. And if it turns out that everything works fine after replacing both pl-259's the best thing to come out of it will be an excellent SWR, and a backup IMAX 2000. Thanks for your reply. It is what honestly convinced me not to change out the antenna as well as replacing both pl-259's. If the high swr continues I will assume it is the antenna and will replace it with the new one sitting in my garage. I don't think it's anything on the inside of the shack as this issue only occurs during inclimate weather. Thanks for replying.