Put the pair of J&M shorties on tonight and did a very unscientific test for those interested:

The bike was in my garage with the engine off and .....

1 Scan on DX and original antenna -- 27 FM stations
2 Scan on DX and J&M antenna ----24 FM stations

3 Scan on LX and original antenna ---4 FM stations
4 Scan on LX and J&M antennna----- 7 FM stations

I tried on AM, but it was at dusk and I was picking up almost continual stations with either antenna

On CB I had a friend drive (cage) down the road and we talked till we broke up

Original antenna -- 1.1 miles to hear me and I heard him at 1.5 mile
J&M antenna--- 1.8 miles to hear me and I heard him at 2.2 mile.

At first testI ampleased.I did not pull the fairing to test the SWR, but will over the weekend. Hope this answers some questions out there. -- Tom

 

tcfamy ,,,,,

I am not surpirsed at the J&M shorty antenna's CB performance increase over your stock whip ,,,,,,

as I have posted previously ,,,,,, this is likely because the stock CB antenna whips are WAY out of tune when they come from the factory and most dealers do NOT tune them during bike set-up ,,,,,

now I am not picking on Harley dealers, because there are alot of very good ones out there ,,, just passing along what I see as a trend ,,,,,

 

good info....matches my experience

 

I picked up a set at Myrtle Beach. Not one complaint.
I also picked up 2 headsets. I was very impressed with the display sample, however it is my guess that the CD they hadplaying was a bit beefed up over normal prodution of digital CD's.
But, still was better than stock H-D headsets.
So now that improvment along with the HogTunes I have front and rear, I good to go.

chappy

 

The tuning, to radio frequency you will transmit on, will be critical for transmissions. The larger the capture area, the more the antenna should see, as far as receiving goes.
Your ground has something to do with how you antenna works also. If you lay your other antenna down around while testing you may be getting resonance, if tuned to that freq, from the antenna that is laying down.
Sometimes more frequencies isn't the best for an antenna. You may want the whip to reject stations that would interfere with what you really want to hear, that's where the tuning is really critical.
I was a ham radio operator and I made my own antennas, and tuned them, and they did work well. I would have guys in foreign countries comment on how well I got in with 50 watts, just as clear as 1,000 watt stations, just not as loud. But then their skip may have been scattered, cause of their location, or...antenna
Not trying to get to technical, but these are some of the many factors that will affect performance. The tuning/length of the coax is also a factor in some circumstances.
Glad you like them

 

tcfamy ,,,,,,,

also remember ,,,, the J&M antennas that we offer for the tail trunk position, we had to tune them so that they worked properly with the trunk mounted loading coil Harley uses, that is mounted in the bottom of the trunk ,,,,,

for the AM/FM side it does not matter, as there is no loading coil and the coax cable on that side is a different impedance, for the AM/FM tuner ,,,,,

will we see you at our J&M display at Americade ?

 

John,

I tried your Shorty Antenna'son my 2007 Street Glide. I was told it would get better reception then my stock antenna. I must admit I lost alot of stations (AM/FM, I don't have a CB) with your antenna. I called customer service/Technical support and they sent me a new antenna (thinking there might have been an open wire) but the 2nd antenna was not any better. Can you tell me if there is some other type of antenna I should be using? Remember this is for a 07 Street glide. In all fairness I did get a full refund.

Thanks
Mark

 

Mark ,,,,,,

in the rail mount position on AM/FM their may be some loss ,,,,,, but it is slight ,,, and you must decide whether the loss is acceptable considering the switch from the tall harley whip to the short J&M antenna ,,,,,,,

that is the issue ,,,, sorry for the confusion ,,,

 

Chappy ,,,,,,

also ,,, quite a few folks have had their stock Harley whips break off as they were going down the road ,,,,,,,

the J&M shorty antennas have a spring built into the base of them so they can be bent over all the way without damage ,,,,,

this feature also puts less strain on the antenna mounting stud ,,,,,,

 

the J&M antennas for the rail mount position are tuned differently because there is not the load in the trunk ,,,,, like there is in the trunk mount position ,,,,,,

for the AM/FM side ,,, it does not really matter as the coax cable on that side is a different impedance ,,,,,,,