I had Harleys latest hidden antenna installed in my new 13 SG.

My buds 13 Classic was 5' away (stock antenna), and seemed to be picking up more stations, and clearer.

Has this been your experience? I thought this new HA was better then the previous one. Maybe not.

Opinions please.

 

Is there a "new" hidden antenna? I have the Boom Audio HD attenna that I bought last year (it's powered antenna).

Would be interested if there is something newer than that one.

Regarding the one I have, it is not better than the stock whip antennas but it work good enough for me. The weaker stations are a little weaker but the strong ones come in nice and clear.

I want to also say that I notice a little more engine noise in the background (like an ignition ticking sound). Only really noticible between songs when noone is singing/talking. I dont notice it much any more mainly because I probably just got used to it and I mostly listen to ipod which is totally unaffected by the antenna.

I dont use my CD (2012 Limited) and I put stubby antennas in place of the long whipes. I like the look of having the hidden antenna better and I guess I was ok with the sacrices.

Anyway, post a link if there is something "new"

Thanks

 

It's not quite as good as the long whip...... but you can't poke yourself in the eye with a hidden antenna

 

I installed the hidden antenna on my bike. (I had the HD shorty on at the time). Didn't take the bike out but A/B'd them in the garage. The shorty pulled the local stations in with better quality and much less "noise" than the hidden one, so it got carefully re-packaged and returned. I'll stick with the shorty.

 

I may be doing the same thing.......

 

I didn't do the Harley unit due to the Harley tech. He explained that it was not worth the money for one factor. The J&M unit allows use of both the external or the internal.

The price was the same so I went with the J&M. In Salt Lake I don't hear a difference between it or the shorty. I have the whips somewhere but never use them.

 

The antenna, FM or CB should be the tallest thing on any vehicle to work at it's best.

 

I tried the short antenna and the hidden boom antenna and the best reception I get is using the stock antenna and installing it hidden by weaving it up behind the saddle bag and up under the seat. No visible antenna and it works great

Do a search on here to see a video on how to do it

 

I was running no antenna after I got my tour pak on the Street Glide. I went with the powered hidden antenna and it meets my needs. It is not nearly as good as regular, stock antenna in my opinion. However, I use the radio rarely in FM/AM - mostly using Slacker radio.

 

Working in the RF industry designing and testing a few antennas, I can tell you that any "shortened" antenna is a compromise antenna in regard to performance. If you must have a hidden antenna to support a certain look, then understand that your reception or transmit range will never be anything close to normal. Short antennas are very inefficient. Besides being crammed in proximity to other wires and metal objects to which it will electrically couple, it's usually the incorrect polarization and that alone is an automatic 20dB loss in performance. As antennas shrink below a quarter wavelength in length at the operating frequency, performance suffers in many ways.

This is just another example of where a longer element will provide better performance.