Hera are a few crappy pics of the VERY quick install of the H/D "hidden antenna" that goes inside the batwing fairing.

Now, the directions tell you to stick it to the fairing, and then tie up the wires. Here's the problem. Every time you take off the fairing, you are fighting wires.

I decided to do it my way instead.

See the pic below:



What I did was lay the antenna along the top of the fairing and with one tie wrap, I tied it in place along the top of the gauges. I then used the bread ties the wires came with and bundled the wires together so everything was in a compact arrancement. This antenna comes with an addditional hot and ground wire lead. The way they work is they clip on to the cigarette lighter, and have a built in "piggy back" arrangement, where the supply wires clip on.

I can now remove the batwing, and not fight wires!



Other than that you just unplug the stock antenna wire and plug in the new one.

Many guys, cut off the end of the antenna and then remove the whole stock antenna. I decided that wasn't necessary. I simply tucked the lead of the old antenna out of the way in the wiring, and at the rear, reached in and pulled out the rubber grommit that the antenna goes through to screw in. Then I just took the plug I bought from the dealer and snapped it in, wiped it down, and VOILA! a more smooth and uncluttered look.





On the road impressions. Reception is ADEQUATE. The stock antenna, expecially with the long whip is the abosolute best for reception. The reception is good enough with this system that when you finally do reach a point in BFE where all radio signals are too weak, then you can go to CD, MP3, or turn everything off, and just enjoy the engine sounds and the sights.

Rception is good for all but the very picky. With a CD and MP3 backup....who needs an ugly antenna whip flopping around?

I am glad I did it.

~Joe

 

Thats about the best place for it. Good luck with it (same as he Hogtenna, just HD branded). I had better results with the one from Ebay that was 21.00 shipped and did not have to attach to the power and ground....until they had to change out my inner fairing. Just haven't gotten around to ordering another Ebay antenna.

 

Had it out today...reception was good. When you do get to places where reception goes bad, a push with my right thumb, and tunes from the CD chime in!

Then later, just turn everything off and "road king" it for a bit!

It's nice to have so many options!

~Joe

 

nice bike, by the way.

~Joe

 

You too.

I also bought a Zumo for the tunes. Having 8gb of jams is awesome!! You could do that with an Ipod or cell phone nowadays also. Just plug into the AUX input and rock out.

 

I was reading the other post on this...I saw you were in their too.....I looked at both antennas, and when I saw the Harley one had the extra wires to hook up, I figured it must be for interference,e tc., and decided to just splurge and get it.

I know it's more, but if interference becomes an issue, you will have to decide if you want one like this one made to fight off interference from HID lighting, etc., or just deal with it, and like I said push right thumb for CD when reception goes poor out in the middle of BFE.

I can't believe I didn't get a black bike! There are so many Black SG's and I have always loved candied paint jobs, that I decided to give this a try...so far so good!

~Joe

 

Nice job and sweet lookin bike. Love that color. I also bought the one off ebay but have not installed it yet. I hope it at least works as good as yours because I just hate the looks of that ugly stick on the rear end.

 

I bought the $21 off Ebay. Works fine until I turn on the HID headlight. Anyone have a solution to this interference? Going to play around with some copper or aluminum tape this afternoon.

 

Seriously......do a google search......maybe talk to a radio geek/expert.

~Joe

 

TRAVELER:
I think you made a good choice on the color. May sound weird, but I miss the taillight on the new bikes. looks strange without one I think......Your has one downfall though....BLACK IS FASTER (jk)!

bpez317:
I think that you are on the right track with the shielding, but you are probably going to have to find some experts somewhere. I would start though by wrapping the extra antenna cabling between the antenna and the radio with the aluminum tape. Beyond that I believe that you are going to have to shield the transformer (not sure the exact term for it) for the HID from everything else. That may be a daunting task since you will have to maintain some airflow to keep it cool as well. If it was me with that problem I would try wrapping the cables and if that doesn't work try the Metra or HD antenna (same one just HD branded.) If that works it will have been the most economical fix as this could get pricey trying different fixes.