newman Posted July 8, 2007 #1 Posted July 8, 2007 Hey Guys, I have a 2007 RSV.....would like to change up the antennea as I find them too tall and i bang them in enclosed trailer when i pull it in. Questions are...what is the black round thing mid way down on one of the antennea? and can i just go to Canadian Tire and replace them with shorter car antennae? Will i loose reception when I change them for smaller ones? Is there any disadvantages by changing them out. And does anyone now where to buy shorter ones? Thanks again for all your great responses over the years. This website is so powerful.
gibvel Posted July 8, 2007 #2 Posted July 8, 2007 The round black thing in the middle of the left antenna is the load. This is used to make the CB antenna "appear" longer to the CB. It's also used to tune the SWR on the CB so that most all of the power from the CB gets transmitted. If you don't tune the SWR on a CB antenna you could end up having all the power reflected back at the transmitter and burn the transmitter out. No, you can't just go get 2 car antenna and put them on bike. There's a thing called the Marshall mod to change both antenna out. The mod calls for 2-3' antenna, which end up being shorter than the two you have on there now, but I'm sure you could go with 2' antenna and get roughly the same responses from the system. Here's a link to the Marshall mod and a link to a 1 antenna mod that a member recently did: http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=11486&highlight=antenna http://bludolphintravel.com/gmg/marshallmod.htm Hope this helps.
newman Posted July 8, 2007 Author #3 Posted July 8, 2007 Thank you for your help. Going to those sites now.
gibvel Posted July 8, 2007 #4 Posted July 8, 2007 I just did the Marshall mod on mine and the whole thing cost $1.00 less, shipped, than 1 OEM CB antenna cost.... About $115. If you could live without folding down the antenna you could loose the folding adapter and the antenna would be about 4 or so inches shorter as well. It would also cost a little less.
GunnyButch Posted July 8, 2007 #5 Posted July 8, 2007 I removed my FM antenna and replaced it with this one mounted inside the fairing. I also moved the CB antenna plug outside the CB case so I could easily unplug and remove the antenna when I didn't need it. http://www.ecshylites.citymax.com/catalog/item/604191/368050.htm It picks up FM pretty good but no so good for AM signals but AM is not much here anyway.
RoadKill Posted July 9, 2007 #6 Posted July 9, 2007 Hey Guys, I have a 2007 RSV.....would like to change up the antennea as I find them too tall and i bang them in enclosed trailer when i pull it in. Questions are...what is the black round thing mid way down on one of the antennea? and can i just go to Canadian Tire and replace them with shorter car antennae? Will i loose reception when I change them for smaller ones? Is there any disadvantages by changing them out. And does anyone now where to buy shorter ones? Thanks again for all your great responses over the years. This website is so powerful. I did the marshall with a few minor differences. I really like the new Antenna's look and performance appears fine. I did everything for around $50 with parts from a local truck stop.
Marcarl Posted July 9, 2007 #7 Posted July 9, 2007 If and when you do change the CB attenna you need to set the SWR. If that is not right you will still burn out the transmitter. I thought you might know this, but then a reminder is a lot cheaper than a new CB. The taller attenna will give you more distance than the shorter one, but that to me means very little as I ride mostly with 1st gens, and when I ride with any others I just slow down to about 1\2 speed so they don't get tooo far behind, or I let them lead and then I save the wear and tear on 4th and 5th gears.
Cerviperus Posted July 9, 2007 #8 Posted July 9, 2007 Since I know nothing of CB technology... if I were to switch to the Marshall Mod (which looks great, and would look much better than stock on my black RSV), do I need to adjust the SWR? ...or is that only if you switch to a single antenna?
gibvel Posted July 9, 2007 #9 Posted July 9, 2007 Since I know nothing of CB technology... if I were to switch to the Marshall Mod (which looks great, and would look much better than stock on my black RSV), do I need to adjust the SWR? ...or is that only if you switch to a single antenna? Plain and simple........if you change your present CB antenna to a different CB antenna you WILL have to readjust the SWR. No ifs ands or butts. If you don't you'll run a very high risk of burning up your CB when you transmit. Especially if you go with an antenna of a different length. Switching to a single antenna you still have to adjust the SWR but you'll also need a splitter. That's explained in the first article listed in my original post.
Cerviperus Posted July 9, 2007 #10 Posted July 9, 2007 Plain and simple........if you change your present CB antenna to a different CB antenna you WILL have to readjust the SWR. No ifs ands or butts. If you don't you'll run a very high risk of burning up your CB when you transmit. Especially if you go with an antenna of a different length. Switching to a single antenna you still have to adjust the SWR but you'll also need a splitter. That's explained in the first article listed in my original post. Well... since Roadkill has already done the mod, and lives less than an hour away, maybe I can talk him into giving me a hand. Thanks for the info, as this looks like something I'm definitely interested in doing. Hell, I don't even know if my CB works... one of these days I'll find someone with a couple headsets that I can test with... which makes me think...
gibvel Posted July 9, 2007 #11 Posted July 9, 2007 Well... since Roadkill has already done the mod, and lives less than an hour away, maybe I can talk him into giving me a hand. Thanks for the info, as this looks like something I'm definitely interested in doing. Hell, I don't even know if my CB works... one of these days I'll find someone with a couple headsets that I can test with... which makes me think... Well, there's a good chance that Roadkill would have a couple of headsets handy. Are you thinking of going with the single or double? If you like the double antenna look and can't get into the single look then go that way. However, if you have no preference keep in mind that the the FM antenna absorbs about 20% of your CB transmit power to the sides of the bike. Front and back are still good. Just a heads up for you and something to think about.
heatonmt Posted July 9, 2007 #12 Posted July 9, 2007 Where do you adjust the swr and do I need to take this to a cb shop to do that.
gibvel Posted July 9, 2007 #13 Posted July 9, 2007 Where do you adjust the swr and do I need to take this to a cb shop to do that. The SWR or Standing Wave Ratio is just a measurement of the power coming out of your radio. if your antenna is either too short or too long a portion of the power your are transmitting gets reflected back into your transmitter. If your antenna is off by too much either way then you can have the majority of the power going back into your transmitter and you can burn the transmitter up. By matching the antenna length to the frequency at which you're transmitting, you can make sure that the majority of the power from your radio is going out and not being reflected back. On the OEM antennas you use the little set screws above the load in the middle of the antenna. You loosen them and pull the top rod out or in slightly and then read the SWR on the SWR meter. Keep adjusting like this until you get the lowest reading you can. Fact is, you'll never get it perfect across the board. When I set mine the lower channels are around 1.6 or so. When I get up into the upper channels they're around .2 or so. I optimized mine so I get the best SWR in the higher frequencies. I figure we use 29 so if that's good that's all I need. You'll need an SWR meter and some cables to connect it with but you should be able to do it yourself. Might be cheaper to go to a CB shop or see if anyone on the site here, that's near you, has the equipment and have it done rather than buy the stuff though.
Freebird Posted July 9, 2007 #14 Posted July 9, 2007 If you switch to Firestik antennas...stay AWAY from the euro mounts. On the trip to Fort Collins, my CB antenna broke off and is not missing in action. This is the second one that I've lost due to the euro mounts breaking off. They appear to be made from some sort of cast aluminum or something.
Dexx Posted July 15, 2007 #15 Posted July 15, 2007 O.k.....due to the fact that my antenna hits my garage door and the fact that the part above the load looks like it was replaced with a piece of wire coat hanger, I'm considering this. The good news is, my dad has an older goldwing sitting in the garage that we can't bear to part with, but doesn't get ridden and it has a Firestick on it ( not sure about anything else, but I'm going to look at it soon. I even have an SWR meter somewhere if I can just remember where I put it). I'm a little confused tho'. Will everything work with one antenna, or will I have to do the mod with a separate one for radio and CB?
Freebird Posted July 15, 2007 #16 Posted July 15, 2007 Does your '89 still have the single antenna? If so, you already have the splitter and it should work fine with the one antenna.
Dexx Posted July 15, 2007 #17 Posted July 15, 2007 Yes, still the single antenna. Just was a little confused as to how the Firestick worked. I'm going to get a closer look at the set up on the goldwing tomorrow. I'm guessing that a few more of the components will be usable too and I'll have a better idea of what to do with them once I have them in front of me. I was a bit nervous about buying everything without being able to have my hands on it first, but most of it may have been right under my nose the whole time.
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