My Harley-Davidson Harman-Kardon radio on my 2011 Ultra broke once again. The first time it broke, the radio lasted about 2-1/2 years and 46,000 miles. I sent it to Iron Cross Audio to be repaired and have the backlight conversion done (white color). $375+ later, I have my radio back. I also added the HD Boom! Audio iPod Interface and connected that to an Apple iPod nano (6th Gen/1.54" Multitouch/Clip) 16GB. A fair amount of money invested in this system. I also added a rear AUX input to the HD radio using plans that have been posted online. This allowed me to connect the output of my Garmin GPS (which is mounted using the HD Road Tech Zumo Fairing Mount Kit) to the radio. It certainly wasn't a high-fidelity system, but it worked for me. I had access to my music via both the iPod and the MP3 player in the GPS, plus I still had both the CB and intercom system. Truth be told, I never really used the intercom system and only occasionally used the CB.

Fast forward another 5-1/2 years and 84,000 miles and the radio is broken again! No way I'm sending it back to Iron Cross to be repaired. I'll probably try and repair it myself, but in the mean time I picked up a replacement unit. A Rockford Fosgate PMX-HD9813.
This is some sweet unit! No comparison to the stock HD unit. Let me first list a couple of items that are important to understand in regards to this replacement radio.


1. The PMX-HD9813 is not compatible with the factory CB. You loose the CB functionality. For people that want to keep access to a CB, one solution is to go with the Midland 75-822 Portable/Mobile CB Radio. Mount to your handlebars using one of the various RAM mounts and the RAM Universal Belt Clip Holder, Part# RAM-HOL-BC1U. I'll probably go this route since I like having the CB for the occasional group ride.

2. The Intercom system also is not compatible with the PMX radio.

3. The controls on the rear speaker pods do not function with this radio

4. The speaker switch on the dash does not function with this radio. The speaker switch will not direct the audio output to the headsets.

5. No automatic volume control (AVC)

6. There are other incompatibilities listed on the RF website (ie not compatible with factory amplified systems and factory equipped satellite radio systems, etc), but I'm not familiar with them.

If you weren't aware, Rockford Fosgate manufactures radios for the marine segment. It seems the new radio for the HD segment is very similar to the marine radios, just repackaged in the HD pre-Rushmore form factor. One item I was a bit surprised was that the RF marine radios support the weather band (WB), but the new radio for the HD segment does not.




Stock HD radio with both iPod and CB modules. Also in the picture is an Apple iPod Nano connected to the iPod module.




Both the PMX-HD9813 and the HD radio, front view. My HD radio is very weathered from all the riding.




Both the PMX-HD9813 and the HD radio, rear view. Notice the rear AUX input I added on the HD radio




Both the PMX-HD9813 and the HD, bottom view. NOTE: difference in the size of the holes on the feet. Stock radio had a zip tie (HD part number: 10073 which is a "cable strap, rosebud mount"). This cable strap will not fit into the smaller hole on the RF radio


Removal and installation of the new radio was fairly painless. One needs a 3/16" allen wrench to remove the four mounting bolts. It's a bit of a tedious process. I've found that a ratcheting wrench like the Lang #6529 really makes the job much easier.

My radio had a zip tie (HD part number: 10073 which is a "cable strap, rosebud mount") on the underside that supported one of the wire looms. This cable strap will not fit into the smaller hole on the RF radio. What I ended up doing is running a zip tie through a 1" x 1" mounting base.

If you plan on using an amplifier, AUX input, sub woofer output or remote trigger, you'll need to attach the RCA harness to the unit. To do this, you'll need to remove an access cover. Fot that you'll need a 5/64" allen wrench.



Notice I have 1894 MP3 files on a Samsung MUF-32AB/AM FIT Plus 32GB - 200MB/s USB 3.1 Flash Drive
According to the PMX-HD9813, the unit only supports 999 songs.



A very poor implementation/display of the MP3 directory structure on the USB card.




I renamed the AUX input to GPS




PMX-HD9813 supports the Radio Data System (RDS). Very cool. Even the clock time gets set automatically!


The display on the radio is very nice and easy to see and read. Power output is considerably higher than the stock unit. One item that annoyed me with the stock HD unit, was the lack of a volume control on the radio itself. What happens if on a trip, the handlebar volume button breaks or falls off? You're left pushing on a small sharp rod to adjust the volume. The RF radio has a volume control on the unit!
I left the USB connection with my card under the fairing. One can drill a 1" hole in the fairing and run the cable to the drivers area on the motorcycle. I don't change my music very often, so I just left everything zip tied under the fairing. It's easy enough to remove the fairing (7 screws) if I want access to my memory card in the USB port.

There are a couple of negatives to this radio.
1. The biggest is my disappointment with the USB MP3 functionality. First, I'm not sure why the documentation mentions a limit of
255 folders max
999 songs max
I currently have much more than that loaded on my memory card, and it is working! But, I think the large number of files on my memory card effects the amount of time to initially read the USB card.
I found that the radio takes approximately 7 seconds to boot-up in the FM/AUX mode. But in USB mode with my large number of MP3 files, it takes about 26 seconds to read the memory card.

What is really a poor design, is the way the filesystem is laid out. Normally, one would want to have a music file structure similar to:
Artist --> Album --> Songs
And the music device displays information via the MP3 tags. I don't believe this radio is doing that. It seems to basically be displaying everything in a two-level directory structure.

A minor nitpick is the radio documentation needs to be updated and expanded.
I also found that the auto store radio preset function doesn't work properly. This function will automatically scan and set your presets.

If you plan to attach a device to the AUX input, keep in mind the AUX interface are RCA connectors. If you want to connect something like a GPS unit, you'll need to purchase a .

This is the memory card I am using. .

Rockford Fosgate PMX-HD9813 Owner's Manual

The radio is waterproof rated.
IPX6 (Front Face)
IPX4 (Rear Chassis)

IPX4 – Protects from splashing water, no matter the direction
IPX6 – Protects from powerful water jets

That's all for now. Any questions, fire away.

 

Thank you for review! 999 songs on USB not a big deal, i'd use Bluetooth streaming (spotify,Apple Music) or have my music in FLAC and stream it through the radio

 

The documentation says the radio supports 999 songs loaded on a USB device. But if you look at the picture I posted, you can see that I have loaded 1894 songs and it still worked. For just playing songs on shuffle it's great, but if I want to play specific songs, albums, or an artist, I'd rather use the MP3 player on my Garmin Zumo 595 GPS, which I have wired into the AUX port. The MP3 interface is much better.

 

Another nice feature of the PMX-HD9813 is that the head unit will remember the last song that was playing on the USB memory card and continue on from there. My HD iPod module always restarted at the same first song whenever I restarted my motorcycle. Very frustrating!

 

Thanks for the detailed review and photos, very informative. I have A 2011 Ultra and have been looking at this radio. I can live without the intercom and CB, was mainly interested in plug and play as well as the handle bar control functionality. Disappointing that the AVC is lost. I take it no splicing of wires for the most part, controls (volume, mode, next song) and all 4 speakers work? Really nice option but a bit pricey, hopefully it will come down a bit at some point.

 

Hey Look Out thanks for the review. It confirmed a lot of my suspicions about the unit. The lack of AVC is a deal breaker for me.

It's a little off topic but I think you have an answer to a question I have about the stock HK head unit. I too sent mine to IC to have some work done and got them to install a rear AUX port. As a result I think AUX shows up in the lower right of the screen all the time even when nothing is plugged in. I really would like to add an iPod interface but I get the impression it will show up in the lower right and switch on and off when something is plugged into the front AUX port. Is this correct? It seems you were able to use an iPod interface with that added AUX plug. How did you select the iPod interface, just not plug anything in and it showed up in the lower right?

 

Yes, completely plug-n-play. All four speakers work and the radio has both balance and fader controls. You can also adjust the different settings (volume, mode, next song, balance, fader, etc) via the handlebar controls.

 

AVC is a nice feature, but it's certainly not a deal killer for me. It's simple to adjust the volume with the handlebar controls.
Yes, AUX does always show up on the screen, but it's not activated until you select it.
I have the HD Boom! Audio iPod Interface (part number: 76476-10). When this module is plugged into your radio, you get another option on the radio display, called "iPod". You're better off just getting a Garmin GPS and using the MP3 player builtin to the GPS device. Plug the aux output of the GPS into your AUX input on your radio. You won't have handlebar controls to change songs, but you'll still be able to use the handlebar controls to adjust the volume. Besides the media player interface on the Garmin GPS is very easy to use if you want to change songs/albums/playlists/artists.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks for the info Look Out, I don't use a GPS much and mine is so old it doesn't have a media player anyhow. In the six positions or selections available on the HK head unit where does the iPod show up? I have a bluetooth module so that takes up the lower right slot on mine if I remember correctly.

I know a lot of folks don't mind not having AVC but I live in a rural area with speed limits that change quickly and very often. I love not having to fiddle with the volume control. If I go north into the mountains I wouldn't even try to fiddle with the volume button.

Thanks again.