Sudden Loss of Reception

broken antenna or cracked coax? Grab ahold of your antennas at the mounts and see if they still feel snug, sometimes the internal parts inside the mirror assemblies come loose.
If the brackets for the antennas are external, get a new section of coax and while you are sitting still run it from the radio to that antenna, if it makes it better, put the new coax in place permanently. If no change, it may be something in the radio, but check that you haven't moved the RF gain knob if you have one!

 

AGREE .....

 

If it is a firestick or similar wound antenna, Often the wound copper wire under the plastic shielding will break and go undetected. If you have a spare try screwing it on. What radio are you using?

 

Terry, have you also lost transmit range? I know it's hard to tell if you can't hear people answer you from 4 or 5 miles away, though.
This is one of those times when a radio's built-in SWR bridge can help you some, at least because the SWR should be really high if the antenna circuit has either opened or shorted.
What kind of radio is this?
-- Handlebar --