On most antennas you can cut them down if needed but good luck if you need to add length. But as Andy02 mentioned, tuning is fast becoming a lost art and I will guarantee you that the dealership has no idea as to what they are doing in this regard.

Your best bet is to find a HAM Radio shop and ask around who can, or is capable of tuning a CB radio. It won't matter if the CB is on a Car / Semi / Harley... the principles are all the same.

Failing this.... try different antennas. I tried the stock, shorties, J&M, Whips and I finally found one that works well on my bike.

 

Tuning an antenna isn't that difficult, you just need an SWR meter and follow these instructions. http://www.rightchannelradios.com/bl...g-instructions

 

How about a 102" whip on that sucker.

 

Two ways to tune an antenna. Lengthen or shorten the antenna element to ground, or shorten the coaxial cable till you get a 1:1 match.

CB's operate on an AM sine wave. The length of this wave is about 432 inches peak to trough. What you are doing when you tune the antenna is getting the whole system, radio, coaxial cable, and antenna to be a multiple or a fraction of 432". The 108" whip antennas that some may remember are 1/4 wave, making it easier to tune the system.

 

Driving an 18 wheeler and knowing what it takes to build a decent cb system-when I bought my Ultra I decided that there's no way I'm ever going to mess with the cb on the bike.
The antenna and the coax is 90% of the system.The actual radio is not really very important.

 

There is some argument as to whether cutting the coax actually changes the SWR. This guy was, at the time, THE guy for tuning CB radios... https://books.google.com/books?id=wU...length&f=false See #2.


I also have to wonder if Harley antennas are that far off from being right in the first place. A CB antenna sold for a car has to be adjustable, because the maker has no idea if it will be installed on a VW or a semi. Harley doesn't have that problem.

All speculation of course. I suspect the best way to tinker with the setup is to make changes & watch the signal strength meter on a receiving CB nearby.


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I agree that the coax length makes zero difference. I could point you to a guy that does some really in depth math and testing to determine that the SWR difference between 18" of coax and 3" of coax equated to 0.1% change on SWR.

My question as to how far off Harley antennas are from the factory is how did they test it? I had a Jeep that no matter what I did, I couldn't get SWR into a good range. I eventually moved the mount and that fixed the issue. It would only seem logical that moving the factory mount on a Harley would effect SWR. Furthermore, it is pretty obvious to me that Harley doesn't give two ***** how well the CB works. If they did, the factory antenna wouldn't be shorter than the rider.

 

You can tune an antenna, but you can't tune-a-fish.

 

I read in another thread on here that in order to hook up an SWR meter on your bike you need a special connector that most local CB shops don't normally have. Can anybody that has adjusted theirs confirm that.

 

The CB sucks, huh?
I bet it is a blast riding down the road...................