ANTENNA PROBLEM

[SPECTACUALR SPIDERMAN]

ok, i posted about my july 4th trip, last day there someone broke off my antenna. Well i brought it to my radio shop who
had a shorty one. he pulled out the broken piece & installed the new one & reception sucks, anyone know what could be
wrong?

 

[2ndChildhood]

ok, i posted about my july 4th trip, last day there someone broke off my antenna. Well i brought it to my radio shop who
had a shorty one. he pulled out the broken piece & installed the new one & reception sucks, anyone know what could be
wrong?

My reception sucks on the FM stations after I installed the CB radio on my 2012 RTL. When i removed the CB radio so I could move it to my new 2015 the FM reception came back.

Now I have the CB radio on the 2015 and lost the FM reception. If any one knows why I would really appreciate the help.


ToM
Life is Great
Be Safe

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Bob Denman]

I tried a "Shortee" on my old RT, and the reception was noticeably poorer... :shocked:
I went back to the OEM whip... :thumbup:

 

[PMK]

My dad was the electronics genius for me. From doing all sorts of aircraft avionics installs I learned a lot about antennas. No genius but some stuff.

One big item is how the antenna is tuned to the frequency you are trying to pull in.

That long whip is 32" in length, which my dad always mentioned was some kind of ideal length for FM on account of wavelength.

I may be wrong, but I got the impression that antenna length is a fraction that is easily divided into the wavelength. That's why I have heard people talk about 1/4 wave and so forth.

If you run a shorter antenna, it must be tuned to work properly and may have compromises.

I purchased a hidden antenna that is not amplified for our RTs. It does work, but we have lost FM reception to. I mounted ours under the bodywork by the headlights.

Others have purchased amplified antennas and installed them under the trunk bodywork.

To get better FM with a short antenna, you may be able to add what I think they call a Dipole. Possibly take a piece of wire, same length as the antenna, put a ring terminal on one end of the wire and run it inside the bodywork. This may or may not help increase the antenna length without it being outside the bodywork.

As for the CB...that goes back to tuning also, not sure if you need to have a good shop set it up with an SWR tool or not. Does the FM still remain poor if the CB is powered off?

PK

 

[Mr. White]

My reception sucks on the FM stations after I installed the CB radio on my 2012 RTL. When i removed the CB radio so I could move it to my new 2015 the FM reception came back.

Now I have the CB radio on the 2015 and lost the FM reception. If any one knows why I would really appreciate the help.


ToM
Life is Great
Be Safe

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Tom, I had both XM and a CB on my 2011 RT-S. XM worked great...the CB was poor at best. When I traded for my 2014 the tech said I could only have a CB or XM but not both as BRP changed the wiring harness. My new 2014 CB is really poor and a waste of money. I have installed a better grounding strap as suggested here but it made little difference. BRP has a poor CB....compared to my GW trike which is great and works MUCH better than the Spyder. I was told BRP has little interest in CBs as they are not used much in Canada. Bummer

:spyder2:

 

[2Paw]

Antenna length

I don't remember all I was taught about antennas, it was a long time ago, but the length is electrical not physical although the physical length is a factor in the electrical length. :hun: This makes sense to me, maybe not to anybody else.

 

[cuznjohn]

just hum

 

[bruiser]

When we were at Brewer Cycles a few weeks ago, we noticed the antenna on the wife's 2014 RT missing. The base was there but the whip was gone. It wasn't broken off. Had to order a new one. Dealer said it wasn't covered under warranty. Anyway, I had a shorty on our original 2010 RT and it worked ok. But not as good as the original. The Spyder OEM radio is not going to be as good as one in your car or truck. That's just fact. if you're in an area where there are strong signals, ok, but when you get out in open territory, signal fade is going to increase. Only if the antenna was precisely tuned to the OEM radio would you get better reception. When I was in to CB radios, I had all the equipment to set antennas to the radio and coax length. Including mobile and base antennas. Most times I could get the 1-1 ratio needed. But on cheaper antennas and radios, 1-1 was almost impossible to attain.

And while we're on the subject, the coax also has to be considered in reception. I recently installed a MOHU tv antenna at our house. The instructions state that coax over 30 feet in length will reduce the signal to the receiver. The antenna is right at 32 feet coax length from the tv. I still get great pictures on most all channels, but there are a few that don't come in as strong and will pixelate. But it's sure better than 1200 a year for high priced satellite.

 

[Chupaca]

Next step....

Love my Scala G9 and it does it all with a three inch flip up antenna..:roflblack: seems to be tough to get all the stuff on the RT's to work all together...:dontknow:

 

[PaladinLV]

That's why Harley has a Radio Antenna and a CB Antenna

AJ

My reception sucks on the FM stations after I installed the CB radio on my 2012 RTL. When i removed the CB radio so I could move it to my new 2015 the FM reception came back.

Now I have the CB radio on the 2015 and lost the FM reception. If any one knows why I would really appreciate the help.


ToM
Life is Great
Be Safe

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[2ndChildhood]

Tom, I had both XM and a CB on my 2011 RT-S. XM worked great...the CB was poor at best. When I traded for my 2014 the tech said I could only have a CB or XM but not both as BRP changed the wiring harness. My new 2014 CB is really poor and a waste of money. I have installed a better grounding strap as suggested here but it made little difference. BRP has a poor CB....compared to my GW trike which is great and works MUCH better than the Spyder. I was told BRP has little interest in CBs as they are not used much in Canada. Bummer

:spyder2:

I installed an upgrade CB antenna and the CB works great with the 2015. I will try and turn off the CB radio to see if it has any influence on poor FM reception.


ToM
Life is Great
Be Safe

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[PaladinLV]

The CB used in the Spyder is the same unit used in Harleys.

It's NOT the CB, it's the design in the incorporation into the Spyder.

AJ

BRP has a poor CB....compared to my GW trike which is great and works MUCH better than the Spyder. I was told BRP has little interest in CBs as they are not used much in Canada. Bummer

:spyder2: