Antenna issue

[CaseyJ955]

89 Royale with CB and stereo, I only have one antenna on the right, arent there supposed to be two?

 

So the one that I have seems to be stripped, there is a threaded collar that I would unscrew and lift to allow the antenna to fold forward and this is the part that is stripped. It does not look stripped but it wont thread, almost like it's one size too big. So aside from the issue with the existing antenna doesnt the CB get it's own antenna? I would probably just do what I have seen in other threads and use a firestick for the CB if thats the one on the right.

 

I am not opposed to dual antennas and not opposed to them not being an exact match. AM/FM should work only for getting local weather while in the saddle but most probably because of my 0 tolerance advertising policy I will never use the AM/FM, but I'm OCD enough to want it to work as well as it can. So I guess what I'm looking for is the normal and ideal configuration of CB and stereo antennas, does one antenna do both and do them well?

[Freebird]

I don't remember for sure but I think that the first gens, at least some of them, had a single antenna and the cable goes to some type of matching transformer with outputs for the AM/FM and the CB.

[CaseyJ955]

I don't remember for sure but I think that the first gens, at least some of them, had a single antenna and the cable goes to some type of matching transformer with outputs for the AM/FM and the CB.

 

If one antenna does both and does it well then I'll fix the mast and leave it alone. I hear the CB is useful in group rides anyway. I dont think there is an aftermarket mobile CB antenna that is more expensive than a replacement for the factory.

 

How would a Venture look with twin 102" steel whips:rotf:

 

I guess I'm fishing for the best idea, maybe fixing the existing antenna and leaving it along or if I can get significantly better performance by changing things up some. I thought of dual firesticks but not sure how a firestick would work with terrestrial radio.

[snyper316]

If one antenna does both and does it well then I'll fix the mast and leave it alone. I hear the CB is useful in group rides anyway. I dont think there is an aftermarket mobile CB antenna that is more expensive than a replacement for the factory.

 

How would a Venture look with twin 102" steel whips:rotf:

 

I guess I'm fishing for the best idea, maybe fixing the existing antenna and leaving it along or if I can get significantly better performance by changing things up some. I thought of dual firesticks but not sure how a firestick would work with terrestrial radio.

 

Um cant be that bad of a look, I had dual whips on a Nissan/Datsun Pick up. Had one 102" on my 3 wheeler not really sure why it was there but there was a bracket on the handlebars that probably held a cb at one time. Side note I have jerry rigged cb antenna's for my radios and got alot better reception. I believe the K504 I think they were called actually knocked out the Electronic noise in my stereo from the Car engine running. I miss running skip that was loads of fun. I most of the time did it barefoot too. Sometimes I would kick on my Texas Star but only when I was down in a hollar.

[CaseyJ955]

Back when I was doing CB more I had (still have) my tweaked Ranger, D4 power mic with a Black Widow linear through a single 102" whip on my 72 Town Car. It was quite a stomping system, very loud and clear, and able to stomp systems running considerably more power. I found out by accident that if I spiked the mic at the car wash all the vacuums would kick on. I guess I just lost interest in that sort of thing, but I can see it as having value for a tour bike. I would like a more subtle antenna that will perform with the presumably puny finals in the OEM CB.

 

Does the factory antenna work well or does it leave something to be desired for either CB or radio?

[cimmer]

Hi Casey, The VR came with just one antenna on the bike but a lot of us have added a second antenna as this separates the CB from the AM/FM. The stock setup is there is a spliter located under the CB that the antenna line goes into and the one line to the CB with the other to the radio. The stock antenna does fold down with the turning of the knurled collar and pulling it up. This collar does thread on tight enough not to rattle loose. There should also be a rubber washer under the antenna where it treads onto the stud for its connection to the cable.

The adding of a second antenna is called The Marshall Mod. There are some previous post about this but for our VRs, you need to check your travel bag rack and see if you have antenna bracket mount on the left side of it. If not, then you can try to locate a rack that has one on both sides. I purchased mine off of ebay when I did mine and I believe it came with the antenna bracket also. The brackets are the same so the will mount on either side. I have 4' firesticks on my VR but if I was to do it over I would go with the 3' ones. I personally like the looks of two antennas on the back of the bike which is why I did it but it did seem to improve radio reception also. I havent really used the CB much as I didnt have a mic for it but I did add an EDset to my helmet last spring.

Hope this helps you.

Rick F.

[snyper316]

Back when I was doing CB more I had (still have) my tweaked Ranger, D4 power mic with a Black Widow linear through a single 102" whip on my 72 Town Car. It was quite a stomping system, very loud and clear, and able to stomp systems running considerably more power. I found out by accident that if I spiked the mic at the car wash all the vacuums would kick on. I guess I just lost interest in that sort of thing, but I can see it as having value for a tour bike. I would like a more subtle antenna that will perform with the presumably puny finals in the OEM CB.

 

Does the factory antenna work well or does it leave something to be desired for either CB or radio?

 

Try boogying down the road and getting the bright idea to kick on the Texas Star and key up. IN a car with Throttle body fuel injection it was a 88 ford tempo. I was kicking down the road at 55 and keyed up and the car started acting up, just thought bad gas 2 days later it just wasnt running right so took it in had them plug it in and the guy told me the computer in it was dead. Don't know how but I still drove it till it just would not start about a month later, haven't run cbs since. Afraid to, specially with all the electronics in cars, not to mention just about everyone and there brother own a cell phone and no longer play with CB's.

[CaseyJ955]

The Texas Star is a nasty thing, my Black Widow is a Texas Star 440 IIRC but had some work on the finals and a few other mods and outperformed my tweaked 667 in both raw power and clarity. I think if I put this on the Venture the bike would be enveloped in flames the first time I spiked the mic. Not thinking the stator would handle that for a second.

 

The car it was in was a carb fet 467cid Lincoln, even the locks were vacuum operated so no issues with it's use. Now I'll be happy if I can get some range and clarity on the factory CB, I guess I wont be shooting skip like I used to.

 

What about using the existing antenna for AM/FM, would a firestick be better? I think dual firesticks would look great but I'm not opposed to leaving the OEM antenna alone if it works well for both but also not opposed to just adding a firestick for the CB and keeping the OEM for radio. If as Rick said the firestick performs better on AM/FM than the factory antenna then why not use twin firesticks?

 

OR, and I like this option if it would work, replace the OEM mast with a single firestick that would work for both CB, AM/FM with the OEM switching unit that Rick spoke of? Why not if it improves reception of AM/FM and obviously would be better for CB?

[Karaboo]

If you go to the Sierra Audio store, they have a replacement antenna that folds and is almost identical to the original.

It is here: http://www.sierra-mc.com/proddetail.asp?prod=AO-GL12-ANT

 

Price is $45. The add says it needs an antenna splitter, but you already have one since you have the CB.