yea I was going to say basically what Ozzy did... unless you, say, patched a power input to a video input it should be ok from that perspective. patching an output FROM the transmitter to something wrong generally wouldn't be an issue for the transmitter. Especially if you didn't have any power going IN to the transmitter at the time, then that output was dead anyway.
however ANY transmitter no matter what brand/power if you provide power to it with no antenna attached (like in your pics) you pretty much insta-kill it because the signal has nowhere to "go" and fries the internal electronics. That's why we keep those stock/crap antennas around just to have something plugged in at all times just in case, then I put the really good antennas on when I'm about to fly.
further to your point, the little stick antennas that come with transmitters like that (and receivers) are complete and utter crap. Watch the first
6-7 minutes of this video for a really good explanation of why.
If you want more than 50m or so of distance, you'll want upgraded antennas. You can get decent sets for $40-$50 USD, or if you havea diversity receiver and want to go really long range
this set is the ferrari of antenna sets and includes 3: one for the Tx, and 2 for the Rx a omnidirectional and a long range directional. I've been out a couple hundred meters with my TS352 500mW and am yet to even see a hint of interference