I posted this earlier in the electronics thread, but the issue regarding the CB antenna got largely ignored? Go figure?
http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=52525.0Since then, I have bought a few more versions of their Firestik antennas in different lengths. And a new thinner version I'm testing that comes in 3ft and 4ft lengths as well, but does not include the tunable tip. I have subsequently bought a SWR meter and was shocked to see that no matter what I do, the SWR cannot be reduced below ~10. You should be below 2, and ideally closer to 1.
I tested another guys bike and his was very high too, so I'm guessing this is a function of the radio, and the lead back to the antenna, as I'm adding the SWR to the leads in the Tourpak and not behind the radio where you are supposed to connect, as that obviously requires removing the fairing for each session, which would get a little old.
So, what I have done so far is tune the antennas the best I could by connecting the SWR Meter to the leads in the Tourpak, and gave them a whirl. As described in the original post, with the stocker, I would get around 1/4 to 1/2 mile in range to another stock Harley, if we were both in sight of each other folowing each other on the highway. The second someone turned off, it quickly became dead silence. On the road, I could hear truckers but most would never hear me unless I was right on top of them, so I knew there was a problem.
I then tried the Harley shorties, the J&M hidden, and some others the previous guy included with the bike and none worked much better. I then talked to a couple of truckers and was told about a few antenna mfr's like Wilson, Firestik, and a few more. I reviewed each and found that the Firestiks would probably work best for the harley application so I bought the first 4 ft Firefly. At that point, I got it right before a Canadian trip around the Great Lakes and didn't have the SWR meter yet, so it wasn't tuned. I just adjusted the tuning screw so it was 1/2 way out.
The antenna worked fabulous. While I wasn't running with another Harley at the time, I had a bunch of conversations with truckers along the way admiring the bike, and just based on milemarkers, which are moving targets at 70+ mph, I think I was getting out about 2 to 3 miles and having still clear conversions. The bottom-line was, I was absolutely getting perhaps as much as a 10 fold increase in performance - for real!
However, and this is a BIG however, towards the end of my first leg, things started getting rural up on Canada and I hadn't noticed the drop in squelch breaks as a result, but I was shocked to find the antenna was gone at my stop in Barrie, Ontario. Upon inspection, I found that the Harley CB mount stud has snapped off, and the antenna was somewhere on the highway many miles back.
When I got back, I ordered a few of these studs, and a variety of new antennas, and the required Sierra adaptors, so I can continue my testing, but it's pretty hard getting folks to want to do this scientifically. Obviously, the 4 ft Firefly is a stud breaker, so I'm hoping the 3ft version will be OK. However, I don't know how the 3 ft Firesfly will perform against the new thinner 4 ft version. Typically, the longer the better, but the Firefly is a better antenna, so I just don't know. It's probably a toss up.
For the Ultimate solution, if anyone is interested, I would remove the worthless AM/FM antenna, which does sap the CB performance, no matter what you use. Then I would go with the 4ft Firefly, and simply tie a little string from the antenna to the tourpak rack, to prevent the wind resistance from breaking the stud. You could probably use a plastic clip, for a more elegant solution. From there, I'm still trying to determine if the 3ft Firefly is too much for the HD stud, and how that would stack up against the newer and thinner 4ft. Worse case scenario is, the 3ft thinner version still seems to out perform the stock antenna by at least doubling or tripling the range.
The cool thing is, these Firstik antennas cost just a small fraction of the alternatives. I think the most expensive is around $20. You do need the $10 Sierra harley adaptor too, so with shipping and everything, you're around $50. Still alot of money to purposely be trying to loose them to test the stock stud!
I probably shouldn't have gone into this much detail here, but seeing nobody asked in the original thread, I figured I might as well share what I've figured out the hard way. If anyone has any questions, and needs some guidance, please just respond to that original post in the electronics section, so we can keep things organized.
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Topic: Dual Antennas on the RGU (Read 3887 times)