I'm thinking of adding a J&M CB to my 08 Heritage. Most of the guys I ride with ride Ultra's with CB's and I want to be able to communicate with them. It looks like a substantial investment so thought I would check the wisdom of the group. Anyone have any positive or negatives to offer? Any suggestions on where to buy? Any help will be appreciated.

 

We had one of the J&M units on my wives 2010 Heritage and then put it on her 2013 Heritage. We always had problems with it from day one. J&M stood behind it and replaced the whole unit free once. It is a lot of work to install one. It worked just ok when it worked.

 

If you do add a CB make sure to properly adjust the SWR (standing wave ratio) or you will have poor performance or burn up the finals if the SWR is too high. You can get it set at truck stop radio shop if you don't know how.

That is the #1 most common trouble with CB issues. I used to work on/ install cb radios back in the day.

 

Adjusting the SWR by trimming the antenna brought a question to my mind (well several but), since ground plane of the antenna plays a huge roll in range and or reception, where are you guys mounting the antenna on these bikes to get optimal ground plane or are you relying on simulated ground plane?

 

We mounted my wives to a custom made bracket on the left rear saddlebag bolt. They suggest using the license plate bracket but she had a laydown plate frame.

 

So, based on that location you likely get better range in front of the bike vs to the rear?

 

J&M suggests using the rear at least 18" away from the rider if I remember right. The license plate bracket would put it far enough away. I don't think you can mount it anywhere up front that would not interfere. Whatever you do if you are on a bagger don't use an in fairing CB antenna. Had bad reception. Antenna Concepts out of Michigan makes a AM/FM in fairing antenna that in my wives opinion exceeds HD rear antenna.

 

We have a J and M as well as several of our friends --- the unit works pretty well. On my wifes bike I mounted the bracket to the luggage rack. --

The biggest thing you need to remember, is that a bike doesn't have much metal (unlike a car or a semi truck) and the range is not going to be that great. use a SWR meter for the best you can get. Use good grounds and power connections.

It really wasn't bad on the install -- just takes time to make it look like a factory install.

 

I use a J&M on my 09 Heritage and it works quite well. I haven't gotten any complaints about not being able to hear me and I can hear most quite well ( we have a few that use the hand held units and they are hard to understand). It is really nice to be able to communicate especially in a group ride.

The unit I have has an intercom and external connection so you can connect a GPS or music player with it. Installation is not hard just a bit time consuming. I had a lot of excess wire I had to find a place for. I installed the antenna to the right rear with a bracket I made to connect to the license plate. It may be an over kill but I also used a bonding wire from the bracket to the frame to ensure a good ground. Since I have a dual unit I used wire wrap to house the wires running back to the antenna and passenger seat. Good grounds and the SWR is are very important. I got an SWR meter and instructions off the internet and set the SWR my self not hard at all.

My daughter got the unit off ebay (used) for less then $300. It was a complete unit less the head sets and lower cord.