MM -I rarely disagree ,but...... I was an avid Ham and CB radio operator in my youth, (my father was chief engineer responsible for setting up radio and tv transmitters across the country) and our vehicles were laden down with every CB radio and antenna known to man and I learned much over the years as he drilled me full of information he assumed I needed when I took over his business (After learning what I needed to know I ended up liking grease and oil more than volts and ohms but had to learn it anyways). yes the internal load coil allows the use of a shorter antenna..and subsequent swr tuning.... however the ideal length of a cb antanna is still ~ 9 feet. The internal load coil in the Spyder setup allows the antenna to be less than 9 feet and still transmit and stay within the needed SWR. The load coil however is designed and tuned to the antenna length desired. While you are correct that using a shorter antenna will still work, Iand I agree, will not damage the radio) you will always have better swr with the original length that the load coil was designed for. Many riders may not see/need the difference and the transmitting results for them will be satisfactory. But there is a difference in transmission quality when you shorten the antenna, no load coil can overcome that in its entirety. Do I like the look and would I use your antenna? yep. just stating there will be a small transmission degradation that willl probably only be noticed by an acute CB'r.
OK so now we'll get into it.
The antennas "mass" and surface area which most people think is it's length is what grabs the signal out of the air and really has nothing much to do with it's height in the air.
That is unless it is WAY up in the air to escape "ground clutter" like on a building or tower than that being free of the ground clutter it works better there too.
Case in point, if there is a bike on the ground and another along side it on a motorcycle lift, the bike on the lift will have it's antenna mast 3 feet higher than the bike alongside it on the ground. Yet even though it's antenna is 3 feet higher there will be no better reception as the "mass; of the antennas is the same and those 3 whole feet higher that the one antenna is really means nothing in the grand scheme of things.
So the height of the antenna is really not what is important in this case, it is it's mass and surface area that really make it antenna work.
The shortee antenna because it is coiled at it's base is almost as long as the stock antenna as each coil is almost 3 inches long pulled out flat. It is only about 2 inches shorter than the stock one. The load coil is not so razor edge tuned as to see this small mass differance.
Also the load coils is just that "coiled" it's job is to add "mass" the same way. Being long and flat really is not the determining factor in the "mass" issue, nor really height in the air. (within reason)
So, you'll find the Shortee has almost the same metal mass as a stock antenna does. Also, because the Shortee is not covered in any plastic or rubber coating it also receives the signal easier than antennas that are covered with those materials.
Bottom line, we have sold thousands, yes thousands (6000) of these antennas over the years and have always told someone if they did not like it's performance to return it. To date we have not gotten any back yet. Most time we sell these in the hundreds at a Rally and tell the people "go try it on your bike and if you don't like it than bring it back we're here all week," still no returns.
So, all I can I can say is, that unless something else is up with bike the Shortee will work very well on the RT with no reduction in reception.
MM
MM
