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[hogwander]

Can someone tell me what they do when they remove their tourpack and lose the antenna. Do you take the one off your tourpack? Do you buy an aftermarket antenna? I have seen shorter antennas on ebay and wonder if they are any good. Okay school the newbie. :-/

[grc]

Can someone tell me what they do when they remove their tourpack and lose the antenne. Do you take the one off your tourpack? Do you buy an aftermarket antenne? I have seen shorter antennes on ebay and wonder if they are any good. Okay school the newbie. :-/

hogwander,

Basically, you unscrew the antenna mast from the mount on the tour-pak and screw it onto the fender mount.  http://www.harley-davidson.com/gma/gma_product.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442073939&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302290635&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302290635&bmUID=1168130477169&bmLocale=en_US

As for the short antenna masts, I have the rubber one from Freedom and have found it to be as good as the long whip except for those rare occasions when I find myself in a fringe reception area for the station I'm listening to.  I can easily live with that, versus constantly smacking myself with that long whip when I'm walking around the bike.

Jerry

[hogwander]

Thanks Jerry. I just mounted my tourpack antenna for now. I will look into getting one of those short flex antenna later. I walked into my antenna just the other day at the gas station. I know I must have looked pretty silly when I did it. I still had my helmet on so it kind of startled me with the noise.  ;DI have been riding a softail for the last few years so some of the touring equipment is new to me.

[OTIS]

You can buy the rubber antenna at auto zone for less than 6 dollars.


                                    OTIS

[RJ749]

You can buy the rubber antenna at auto zone for less than 6 dollars.
OTIS

What OTIS said if you are only running the radio antenna.  

[hogwander]

Thanks for the low price information OTIS. I have one of those stores just a few miles away.
(Rjob749) I knew that the shorty antenna wouldn't work for the CB side. I read one of the disclaimers on a website that was advertising for replacement antenna's for bikes.  My bike doesn't have the CB radio so I guess I will go with the shorty. I feel like I can ask the experts and have my answers in no time. If you guys need some answers on Glock pistols I might be able to help otherwise I will just take lessons. This is kind of strange because all day people come to me and ask questions. I work as a high school principal so my days are never and I mean never boring.

[RJ749]

Thanks for the low price information OTIS. I have one of those stores just a few miles away.
(Rjob749) I knew that the shorty antenna wouldn't work for the CB side. I read one of the disclaimers on a website that was advertising for replacement antenna's for bikes.  My bike doesn't have the CB radio so I guess I will go with the shorty. I feel like I can ask the experts and have my answers in no time. If you guys need some answers on [highlight]Glock pistols [/highlight]I might be able to help otherwise I will just take lessons. This is kind of strange because all day people come to me and ask questions. I work as a [highlight]high school principal [/highlight]so my days are never and I mean never boring.

Mmmmm, there must be more details here.  Hopefully these two are not interconnected.  

It is good to have folks like yourself that are willing to take on the challenge of educating our children.  I certainly can understand the never boring part of your job.

[hogwander]

Mmmmm, there must be more details here.  Hopefully these two are not interconnected.  

It is good to have folks like yourself that are willing to take on the challenge of educating our children.  I certainly can understand the never boring part of your job.

Details:
No these two are not connected directly. My bike and shooting are my stress relievers from my work.  Nothing all that exciting. My life is not typical of most school administrators. I have had a very interesting career and list of jobs getting to where I am today. Let's see... finished high school 1980- coal miner- above ground driller and blaster , Army enlisted cannons 13B, some college, Army Officer School (OCS- we call this the hard way) ,UPS-more college, Army Flight School -Helicopter pilot 15B Huey's UH1H and Bell Jet-rangers OH58, college BS, (the actual degree not the pilot BS that we all tell) Elementary teacher K-5,math coach, Cpt. reserve officer activated to Bosnia, middle school assistant principal, HS assistant principal, Masters in Ed. Admin. (I was a principal while I was working on my masters) HS principal.

[OTIS]

The rangers may have been safer than the HS principal.

                                   OTIS

[bluesei2]

Back on the shorty antenna....you guys got my curosity aroused.  I had a shorty black rubber antenna that I'd bought for my Silverado a couple of years ago (I think at Advanced Auto Parts).  I installed it  - we ARE a bit out in the country and no doubt at the fringe of reception and there was a noticable degradation in reception, especially AM.  Reception was so poor that I switched back to the whip this morning.   I DID like the way the shorty looked.  Has anyone had any luck with a particular brand of short antenna?  

BlueSEI2

[OTIS]

I bought mine at auto zone it works good.

                                  OTIS [smiley=xyxthumbs.gif]

[bluesei2]

Thanks Otis.  I sort of figured the Auto Zone and Advanced Auto Parts antenna's were probably very similar but maybe not.  I not even sure we have Auto Zone's here in Northern Virginia.  There were a mess of them in St. Louis when we lived there.  

Best,

BlueSEI2

[OTIS]

Thanks Otis.  I sort of figured the Auto Zone and Advanced Auto Parts antenna's were probably very similar but maybe not.  I not even sure we have Auto Zone's here in Northern Virginia.  There were a mess of them in St. Louis when we lived there.  

Best,

BlueSEI2

Blue if you have trouble finding one let me know i can send you one.

                                                OTIS

[Chief]

Thanks Jerry. I just mounted my tourpack antenna for now. I will look into getting one of those short flex antenna later. I walked into my antenna just the other day at the gas station. I know I must have looked pretty silly when I did it. I still had my helmet on so it kind of startled me with the noise.  ;DI have been riding a softail for the last few years so some of the touring equipment is new to me.

When I first removed the TP on my '99 FLHTC, I used the antenna bracket for the Road Glide that mounts down on the fender strut instead of the more expensive Antenna Relocation kit. I simply rerouted the antenna cable to the lower mount and moved the whip.

Several times, when riding on the interstate to work, I would hear a loud "crack" like a rock smacking into the windshield of a car. I had no idea where it came from. I wasn't behind anyone and didn't have a clue. "Crack" I heard it again. I was starting to get worried and kind of hid down behind the windshield so I wouldn't get hit with anything.

Long story short, it was the ball on the end of the antenna swinging to and for, and coming forward and whacking into my helmet. I finally figured it out one day when the sun was right and I could see the shadow of the antenna flopping all over the place.

I quickly replaced the long whip with a 16" cheapy I got at Pep Boys that has the antenna material formed into a coil at the base for some springy action. The reception around town is fine, but would probably be lacking out in nowheresville. The antenna almost disappears being black and mounting between the saddle bag and fender. It's pretty stealthy.

I want to do something similar with the new bike, but want to run the antenna up through the fill-in strips similar to the Street Glide. This will take a custom bracket since the Street Glide fill in strips are not the same as ours.

I'll make sure to post pics when I get this one figured out because I think it will look pretty trick.

Chief

[bluesei2]

Otis,

Thanks for the offer to send along the antenna.  I'll scout around a little here first and will let you know if I need some help, but I do very much appreciate the kind offer.  [smiley=xyxthumbs.gif]

Blue