Okay, I am hoping for some info/suggestions/advice/ideas for my little issue. I installed a fairing with radio and speakers and all that good stuff over the winter. I didn't know what to do as far as an antenna to be able to listen to regular radio stations. Then I read a post here shortly after becoming a member about a fellow rider that bought a 14" Rubber Duck style antenna from his local auto parts store; then mounting it inside his faring in order to give it a "clean" look. So, basically he made his own type of internal antenna, lol.
I liked the idea and decided to give it a try. My issue is that I am not picking up any stations all of a sudden. I can pick up certain stations depending on where I am at while riding. I can use my ipod, phone, and flash drive for music, but I like to listen to my local stations too.
So now I am undecided on what to do about an antenna. I want to take it out cause I think that the fairing is blocking too much of the signal reception, but I also don't really have a place to mount an antenna either. I was looking at some of these inter (hidden antenna) ones that are amplified thinking that if it is amplified, maybe it will work better/great.
Therefore, here I am asking for ideas, suggestions, advice, things of that nature, lol. I don't want the antenna to look tacky if I have to mount it externally, so I am at a standstill and just keep using my ipod and flash drive, lol. The other day I rode to work, left for lunch, and then my ride home and got reception without interruption. Now I am back to only getting one station, and the stations cutting in and out also, or just not coming in at all.
Help me out guys and gals!! You can also feel free to PM me with anything you got, lol!
Thanks fellow riders, and ride safe!! :banghead: epper1:
Intermittent wiring issue with your antenna possible caused by bad wiring. Had a radio in my old truck that had a good enough ground for the radio to turn on but not for good reception. Fixed ground worked perfectly.
Okay JorgeMango. So, I should move my ground and see if I get better reception or not? I can do that since It's grounded under my left side cover near the battery. Maybe that isn't as good of a spot as I originally thought. I will move it today after work and see if it helps any. I wonder if I can just run my ground wire right to the negative battery terminal? Anyone know anything about that, lol? I thought I had my ground connected where my battery was grounded, but maybe it's not a good spot. Thanks JorgeMango, I will give it a shot!
If you have a HID or LED headlight that also can be the source of poor radio reception. If neither are the case, then I would pursue the ground idea as well. The LED bulb that I currently have installed uses a wire mesh to dissipate heat as opposed to a fan. The antennae for my radio is also mounted on the tour pack as I have tried a couple of in fairing options with mixed results.
I never considered antennas on NON-metal motorcycle fairings.
Basic FM Antenna Theory...On cars a standard whip antenna is about 75cm (about 30"), which is 1/4 of the wave length of the center frequency (about 100MHz) of the FM band. Optimally a whip antenna is 1/2 the wave length but on an automobile the metal body (good ground) acts as the other 1/4 length to give us 1/2. The standard 1/4 whip works okay with "not so perfect" 1/4 added from the body. A full 1/2 whip is about 5' in length and not practical for an automobile.
A short rubber "stubby" uses inductive components in the base and the whip is actually coiled to give us the "electrical" length in physical shorter package. But again we need the other 1/4 from the metal body. Also, all these changes work okay but not as good as the standard 1/4 whip, which, again, isn't as good as the full 1/2 whip.
Doing a Google search for motorcycle fairing antenna found this which may help you.
prkuehn - I do not have a HID or LED headlamp; yet lol So, that i snot the problem right now, but I am going to try the ground thing and see if I can get a better connection to see if that changes anything. I will start there I guess, and go from there, lol.
I forgot to mention that the antenna that I am using is 14" in length, I don't know if that includes the base part of it or just the actual antenna itself. Thank you
SeaSteve - Thank you for the information and link. I have to be honest that you lost me a little bit in the technical description though, lol. I think get the idea and what you are explaining and will read the information from the link that you provided.
jammerwalker - I have actually considered the first one, mount the little square piece close to my shield, and then causing the "strip" part )where I think the actual antenna part is) to be outside of my fairing instead of inside. Thought that maybe if that strip piece is outside of the fairing as discreetly as possible, maybe it would get good reception.Your second link is to the very hidden antenna that I was referring to when I started this, only difference is that I found it on Ebay, lol. It was the amplified on from Krator as well. I do thank you for the information. I haven't decided just what to do as of yet, but I appreciate all the ideas/suggestions. I am going to try moving my ground first though, and then go from there. I am leaning a little towards a type of one with that strip like in your first link. Utilizing my idea of having the strip part on the outside of my fairing could possibly help me out.
I run a marine antenna in my fairing. It is basically just a partially shielded wire. It loops around inside the fairing. I bought it on amazon, cheap.
Well, it was an idea, @MonstaVTX1800. No harm, no foul. I suspect you'll find that moving the ground to a better spot will probably fix it for you, though.
Good luck!
Jammerwalker - you are correct, no harm; no foul> I appreciate that input though, it helps with making a decision. Unfortunately I was outside looking to install my new bags, which i got the wrong hardware so I couldn't even do it last night, and I forgot to move my ground, lol. I will definitively do it this evening!
vtxugg- I know what you are talking about actually, I have looked at something like that too, lol. I think the one that I saw was med by Boss as well. Thank you for the idea, I appreciate it!
just an update for those of you that were helping me out. i have moved my ground a few times now to no avail. thought i had it a couple times cause i was getting good reception in my garage, and then in the driveway a little fuzzy, but when riding; i wasn't picking up s***, lol. so, any more ideas, other than trying an amplified antenna/hidden antenna, lol.?
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