Good point, but, would the seller agree to open / disturb the factory's shipping box? If the seller did honor the request to measure the sections and the total length would not be 24", the buyer would cancel the order, which means the seller would not be a happy camper because he/she has lost a sale.If the company building them has shortened them to reduce shipping cost it is going to be hard for a while to figure out what is old stock ( the longer ones) and what is new stock, the short ones.
Unless you can have the seller measure the antenna and telling you before they ship it.
73
Jeff
As a few forum members have suggested, the length of the box may not be the true reason for changing the length of the antenna. They may just keep the long boxes and use them for the shorter antennas.
It is a "dog eat dog" world out there!