Need help figuring out an antenna mount. Removed my tour pack . Hooked up a rubber shorty ( vertical ) inside the fairing. It kinda sucks. I'd like to move it to the rear, just not sure what to use for a mount that will look decent. What might be the best location? Fender strut, or fender brace? I have a kit, like the one in the pic, is this ok or should I start over?

 

I dont see a way to mount that antenna and have it look nice. I suspose you could make or buy an l bracket and mount it to the bar the license plate is mounted to.
Here's something that might work as well without quite so much hardware showing.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/ROADPRO-28...&wl13=&veh=sem

And there are always the dipole hidden ones but you can never really expect much from them, even the amplified ones.

 

If you want to start over you might consider something like this. I have it taped to the inside of my fairing. Actually I'm using 2 and run them together into a "Y" adapter then to the radio. They work much better than the "T" type flex antenna that the guy I bought the bike from had in there before.

I am in a heavily populated area with a lot of airwaves and find that these work better than others I've tried. I think your location and local terrain will play a big part in any antenna's ability to bring in good reception.

 

Fabbed up my own bracket today. Antenna is mounted. Still have to make the switch in the fairing. Might just pick up an adapter and use both antennas. Any real benefit using two? If it's a " can't hurt " situation, I'll use both.

 

- There's a utube video that shows how to reroute along the frame and under the seat, completely hidden. I would have done that,but I already did the inside the fairing thing. It works but not great.

 

I hid my stock long one today. Unscrewed it from the mount, and ran it up along the frame and cable tied it as I went. 10 min and done

 

I don't really mind that the antenna is out in the open, as long as it works good.
The question of the day is - are two antennas better than one? Or should I not bother? I should say, two mast antennas, one on the back and one in the fairing.

 

Your install/mount's not half bad...

It depends on the antenna characteristics. The one you chose might work great on it's own so I'd give it a try.

I started w/HD shorty and then upgraded to HD hidden...sucked a$$. Ended up geting a Y-cable and patching the hidden with one similar to yours (both under fairing). Now it works quite well.

 

Hooking two antennas in parallel can improve or degrade the signal the radio receives. If the two signals are out of phase they can actually present a lower grade signal to the radio. Fortunately am/fm is more frogiving but each situation is different. Try just your new install and se if you like it. Since it looks like it's well grounded and a decent length I'd guess it will work well. But if you like, a "y" connector is not expensive and if it offers no improvement, or hurts, then it's easy to go back.

Oh, and your install looks way better than anything I envisioned.

 

Hooked up the new rear antenna and it's as if there's no antenna. Plugged in the rubber antenna that was inside the fairing, only outside of the fairing this time and the radio plays great. All I can figure is the original antenna wire from the radio to under the seat has gone bad. Engine heat maybe? Old age? Never heard of one going bad before.