RE: Repairing antennas.
There is no problem in just soldering the parts back together if you make a good solder joint. Slip some heatshrink tubing over the splice and you should be back in business. As long as the total length is between 39 and 41 inches when you are done, there should be no change in range. However, a crash can damage one of the crystals in the receiver (there are two in a dual conversion receiver, one of them not easily changed out), so do a good range check after antenna repair to make sure that there was no other damage in the crash.