Hidden Radio Antennas

[Pappy]

I am looking to repalce tjhe stock antenna on my Harley with a hidden style. Partly for looks and partly because the mast antenna interferes with putting on the cover. I pretty much have it narrowed down to 2 choices. One is an amplified unit sold in the parts houses that I have read some good comments about.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat...oductId=296712

The other is sold on EBay. Can't find any info on it outside of the listings, but the claims are that it also provides good reception for Weather Band radio in adedition to AM/FM. Never seen any antenna designed like it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hidde...Q5fAccessories

Either will be mounted inside the tour pack (trunk) away from other electronics.
Comments from anyone with some kowledge of these things?

[LCHIEN]

that eBay one, they have a patient on it. Really. THey mention it twice.

We have a Patient on it, and it’s the hottest antenna on the market today!

[Black wallnut]

that eBay one, they have a patient on it. Really. THey mention it twice.

We have a Patient on it, and it’s the hottest antenna on the market today!

Sounds like a clear case of malpractice!

[cabinetman]

Doing a search, I saw those antennas. and some were specifically for Harley Davidson. It seems if you don't need CB there are a lot of choices. When I had my Goldwing, I had CB and AM/FM antennas that had quick disconnects. They mounted on the rear light bars. Very easy on and off.

On a day at bike week in Daytona at the track I parked in the MC section with hundreds of other bikes. Removed the antennas, and laid them along the seat and saddle bag. Put my fitted cover over the bike. When I came out, the cover was gone, but the antennas were still there. Much to my amazement, both saddlebags were not disturbed. I had forgotten to lock them and they had my tools, a second 35mm camera, change of clothes, and foul weather gear.
.

[Bruce Cohen]

Hey Don,

When I was riding (1947 chopped Indian hard-tail, springer front forks, shift on tank), the guys would laugh their butts off if I had a radio.

But those were harder and sparser times.

Bruce

BTW, have a ball with whatever you get. Gotta beat peeing blood from riding a hard-tail.

[Pappy]

I was hoping one of our techie types would know if the design of the one on EBay was practical for what it claims. (AM/FM/Weather Band) I'll watch the thread a bit more before making my decision.

[cwsmith]

I'm not exactly a "techie", but the text in the E-Bay Ad is mostly just "hype" IMO, with none of it making a lot of sense. (I'm a licensed Ham Radio operator [KF2VA], but AM/FM reception isn't a keen interest of mine, other than catching my local NPR station.)

An AM/FM antenna doesn't care whether your radio is an old-fashioned analog tuner or a digital tuner... what matters is that the wire length and design matches the frequency wavelength and mode of the radio signal you wish to receive.

The "ground" commentary means little... your typical digital, like used when jogging or walking is not "grounded" in the conventional sense. They usually simply employ the ear-phone wire as the antenna and these generally work quite well. In an automobile, the ground is the car chassis, and that part of the antenna-to-receiver cable that is grounded, is the braided shielding which acts like a shielding tube which surrounds the center-wire that carries the signal to the radio.

Never heard of the cable type they mention, but then I'm not "up on" automotive application cables. Still, you generally want some kind of "shielded" cable, like "coax" to minimize ignition noise. Generally, the selected "coax" needs to match the impedance requirements of the specific radio. It's been awhile, I think the impedance on most automotive radio's is about 74-ohm. Your manual should say.

The E-Bay would probably work okay, but I don't think it's the "hottest" as they boast. (Just the fact that they have a statement about "negative" comments, makes me wonder.) The Autozone antenna looks decent, appearing to be a balanced dipole design, which is typical of FM receive. Some people swear by "amplified" antenna's. I haven't been impressed, but I haven't explored a lot of that either. Being a "component nut" my son went out many years ago and bought an amplified Terk antenna. Personally I couldn't see any measured (S-meter) difference in signal strength or clarity over a simple FM dipole-configured zip cord antenna.

Sorry this isn't more helpful,

CWS

[TheChadNC]

I have installed one of these in a boat and it worked pretty well. (http://www.crutchfield.com/p_12044UA...=am+fm+antenna)

Sorry if the link doesn't show up, my first time trying to post a link.

I would also consider the fact of buying the one from autozone would be easier to return if it doesn't work out for you.

good luck!

[Pappy]

The link worked fine. The 19 reviews/ratings were pretty mixed. Eight gave it 4 or 5 out of 5, but nine rated it at 1 or 2 stars. I know Crutchfield has a liberal return policy but, as you said, Autozone is closer.

[LCHIEN]

i was trying indirectly to point out that the eBay ad seemed like a bunch of BS as CWSmith pointed out. the technical content was up to the quality of the spelling.