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[Snurrebakken]

Excuse me asking this question.
The CB antenna is the antenna with the extra "spring" on the mast,
And the radio antenna is then the antenna without extra "spring"
I don't even know if "spring" the the right english word here.

Your Norwegian freind.

Snurrebakken

[VaEagle]

You are correct Snurrebakken as far as which antenna is which one.

I am not sure of the proper name of the "spring " area on the antenna but I consider it a "coil" and I think it is used to help get the right length in the CB antenna for transmission or receiving signals.
I'm sure one of our experts will respond soon to get you the technical answers.

[RedDevil]

Excuse me asking this question.
The CB antenna is the antenna with the extra "spring" on the mast,
And the radio antenna is then the antenna without extra "spring"
I don't even know if "spring" the the right english word here.

Your Norwegian freind.

Snurrebakken

Snurre,
When looking at your bike from the back, the CB antenna is on the right side, and has the extra load coil on it.  Also, another way to tell which is the CB antenna is to take out the liner of the tour pak and the CB antenna coax connects to a large tuning coil mounted to the bottom of the tour pak.
Cheers ,
 

[d o g o l s]

hope you could make allready a ride with your new scooter

[Eqcons]

Snurre,
When looking at your bike from the back, the CB antenna is on the right side, and has the extra load coil on it.  Also, another way to tell which is the CB antenna is to take out the liner of the tour pak and the CB antenna coax connects to a large tuning coil mounted to the bottom of the tour pak.
Cheers ,
 

Funny this should come up, Charlie.    A friend brought his new Ultra up on Saturday so I could (with the aid of my nice Radio Shark adapters!) check the SWR.  His  antennae were fitted wrong way round!!    The output stage on these CBs must be bulletproof.   He said he thought it looked funny, so had looked at a few other Ultras at the dealers, and half were one way, half the other.  Guess the techs aren't ever told there's a difference!!!

Got his SWR down to about 1.2:1 by cutting about 3" (in ¼" chunks) off the antenna. Even with the right one, it started off over 3:1! 

Incidentally, I checked another set of the J&Ms that a friend had got - close to 1:1 on ch 40, straight out the box!  That spurred me to play with mine some more, but I couldn't get them any better.  Suddenly I noticed I was getting great readings with the tour pak lid open, and much worse readings with it closed (!)  I guess all I have to do is ride around with the lid in the open position! 

Jim

[RedDevil]

Funny this should come up, Charlie.    A friend brought his new Ultra up on Saturday so I could (with the aid of my nice Radio Shark adapters!) check the SWR.  His  antennae were fitted wrong way round!!    The output stage on these CBs must be bulletproof.   He said he thought it looked funny, so had looked at a few other Ultras at the dealers, and half were one way, half the other.  Guess the techs aren't ever told there's a difference!!!

Got his SWR down to about 1.2:1 by cutting about 3" (in ¼" chunks) off the antenna. Even with the right one, it started off over 3:1! 

Incidentally, I checked another set of the J&Ms that a friend had got - close to 1:1 on ch 40, straight out the box!  That spurred me to play with mine some more, but I couldn't get them any better.  Suddenly I noticed I was getting great readings with the tour pak lid open, and much worse readings with it closed (!)  I guess all I have to do is ride around with the lid in the open position! 

Jim

Jim,
   There you go...that's the fix, ride with the tour pak open...   I think it's amazing that they put a feature like a CB on these bikes and about 65% of the techs and 80% of the sales people, wouldn't know a CB antenna from a TV antenna, let alone know which side of the bike to mount it on.  My dealer got it right as far as mounting it, but no help for any technical questions, and it's obvious in the shorties they sell too...they state right on the package, not for CB use, and yet they sell them as CB antennas...I'm trying to get them to go to the J&M's, but they said they were too expensive and no one would buy them...I said really?  J&M is making a small fortune just off of the members of the CVO forum...go figure.
Cheers ,
 

[RJ749]

If it is better with the lid open is that because it get a more direct bounce from the metal under the box?

Would putting some aluminum up in the lid change anything?  I know squat about CB's but have always been told the problem with my CJ/Wrangler CB's is they don't get much bounce of a metal surface since the CJ's are so small.

[RedDevil]

If it is better with the lid open is that because it get a more direct bounce from the metal under the box?

Would putting some aluminum up in the lid change anything?  I know squat about CB's but have always been told the problem with my CJ/Wrangler CB's is they don't get much bounce of a metal surface since the CJ's are so small.

Rog,
Putting aluminum foil in your tour pak will only cook things that you put in there on a hot day, faster.     (Sorry, I couldn't resist that. )  Actually, it won't do a bit of good.  The reason, at least in my opinion, that the SWR changes when the tour pak is open is because the luggage rack is moved away from the antenna removing a potential RF reflector.  Motorcycles are like boats, they don't present a good ground plane for the antenna, so any metal objects put near the antenna will act as a potential ground plane...jeez, there I go again rambling...   Short answer, unless you want to cook hot dogs in your tour pak, no need to put aluminum foil in there. 
Cheers ,
 

[Eqcons]

Rog,
Putting aluminum foil in your tour pak will only cook things that you put in there on a hot day, faster.     (Sorry, I couldn't resist that. )  Actually, it won't do a bit of good.  The reason, at least in my opinion, that the SWR changes when the tour pak is open is because the luggage rack is moved away from the antenna removing a potential RF reflector.  Motorcycles are like boats, they don't present a good ground plane for the antenna, so any metal objects put near the antenna will act as a potential ground plane...jeez, there I go again rambling...   Short answer, unless you want to cook hot dogs in your tour pak, no need to put aluminum foil in there. 
Cheers ,
 

Yup, I reckoned it was the rack, Charlie.

Jim

[robc]

I'm trying to get them to go to the J&M's, but they said they were too expensive and no one would buy them...I said really?  J&M is making a small fortune just off of the members of the CVO forum...go figure.
Cheers ,
 

Just ordered one myself !
And thanks for answering the original post.
I was wondering which one was which also.
I got the tune trapper in my fairing and wanted to take off the AM/FM one.
Rob ......

[sailfish]

"J&M is making a small fortune just off of the members of the CVO forum...go figure. "

Where can I get these J&M antennas you speak of?

[Chief]

"J&M is making a small fortune just off of the members of the CVO forum...go figure. "

Where can I get these J&M antennas you speak of?

I ordered directly from J&M.

[VaEagle]

Hi sailfish,
Here is the link for the antennas.
http://www.jmcorp.com/ProductDetail.asp?PF=6&ProductID=HRUP-ATM

[Coyote.]

Save some $$ buying it here http://www.sierra-mc.com/proddetail.asp?prod=JM%2DHRUP%2DATM