The following is a quote from J&M's Web Site:

"J&M’s new FLEXPOWER™ hide-a-way CB antenna is THE BEST hide-a-way CB antenna on the market today, and will nearly equal the performance of your rear mounted CB antenna, to help you eliminate altogether the rear mounted CB antenna on your Harley®."

I installed this antenna last week on my 2010 FLHTK. The install was a snap. Very Simple and it appeared to be a quality product.

Yesterday I took the bike out on a Small Chapter Ride with the club. We only had 12 bikes on this ride. There were three other Baggers (Ultras) along with one rider using a Midland Radio.

In the parking lot before the ride left I had what I'd consider normal reception and transmission. However once we left the dealorship things changed dramitically. I ran sweep on this ride. Once the group reached normal speeds and we were stretched out, that is when I realized how poorley this product functioned. I'd say the lead bike was only 1/8th of a mile out in front of me and I could barely hear him with my volume turned all the way up and my squelch turned all the way down, just one notch above full open).

All the baggers had to drop their squelch to hear me also. Needless to say this is a very disappointing product and their claim of "being THE BEST hide-a-way CB antenna on the market today, and will nearly equal the performance of your rear mounted CB antenna" Is not true at all...

I would not recommend this product at all and plan to send it back to J&M this week.

I'm assuming others have purchased this product and had similar experiences... So I guess when I ride with the club and need the CB, I'll have to snap the tour-pak back on use the CB in it's normal configuration.

I do have one question for those that ride with this device.
If... I leave it installed in the fairing and leave the pigtail connection attached to the stock antenna connection. When I install the tour-pak and re-connect the antenna cable, will the CB reception return to normal or will by having the flexpower in line limit the transmit and reception just by being installed..?

 

I tried a short antenna and quickly swapped to a K20 true CB antenna with the adjustable tip...doesn't look as cool but the reception is good. Do you still have 9 foot of coax? you might try it with this much coiled around and may find that you have to little coax...Heard it needed to be in 3' incriments

 

Thanks for the review. Was looking at this but now not so sure

 

Aside from installing the antenna as per the instructions, all cable lengths are stock so the coax integridy hasn't been modified or altered.

I have a Firestick antenna that I've considered using... there's a local CB shop here in town that I may visit later this week. I could possibly leave the TP off and run the cable that goes to the TP and add the right cable length (as per the SWR Meter) and using HD's chrome bracket for the FM anetenna, connect the Firestick antenna to that and see what happens... I'm gonna look into making the CB antenna detachable also.

 

I have split my CB and FM antenna... i plugged the amplified fairing antenna seperately...what i am saying is use a seperate coax completely for your CB all coiled inside your fairing. I am just saying...the CB guy would help you the most...that is what i did.

 

My experience with the J&M CB in-fairing powered antenna has been much different than the OP. On today's HOG chapter ride on I-20 from Atlanta to just east of B'ham (destination was Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum) and there were times when I was leading and the sweep on an Ultra were separated by 1/2 mile or so and never had a bit of trouble talking or listening to him.

I've had the antenna in the bike for all of this riding season which began on January 1st with a lengthy New Year's Day ride and rides with 30+ bikes through rural, hilly areas (either leading or sweeping) and the CB/antenna has worked fine.

I don't know if the OP received a faulty unit or not. But I've read threads from probably a 1/2 dozen other users of this antenna who were pleased with it and had far greater transmit and receive function than what he described.

On those rare occasions that a product didn't perform as expected, I've contacted the vendor and the problem has always been resolved with the product replaced because defective (rare), or my incorrect installation discovered. What I didn't do was through the product/vendor under the bus on a public forum when I was emotionally upset with the product.

I recall a thread a while back when the poster threw Hawg-wired's amp under the bus and was absolutely certain the product was junk and his installation had been perfect. A couple of days later he honorably admitted that he had set the gain wrong (and contrary to HW's instructions), and was happy with the product AFTER he'd talked to a tech at HW who walked him through the installation and amp settings.

We're free to post whatever we want and do. But the J&M product works for me and it works for others. If it didn't work for Reef Rider, hopefully J&M can make it right for him.

Carl

 

Point well taken. I'll reach out to J&M and see if there's an issue that can be corrected. With all due respect to J&M , whose products I've used successfully in the past, I will make every effort to give this product the benefit of the doubt.

 

RR, I can imagine your frustration when you're sweeping a ride; everything seems okay at the radio check before departure; and, then things go to hell when you're on the ride and can't do what you'd like to do as the sweep in communicating with the lead and other riders.

Hope it works out for you. The timing of your thread was good since I used the CB as described over the 300+ miles round trip.

PS: I'll post some pics from the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum--fantastic place.

 

ReefRider ,,,,

I wrote that verbage on the J&M website describing the performance of the J&M in-fairing CB antenna ,,,,

I was personally involved in the initial design and testing of this antenna,,,,

using my own 2010 Harley Ultra LTD, & my 2010 Harley RoadGlide (with JMCB-2003) I found a 20-30% reduction in CB TX distance using the J&M in-fairing CB antenna, compared to the J&M or Harley rear mounted antennas ,,,,,

on one particular day of testing, the rear antennas would TX to the receive vehicle approx. 1.5 miles, and 1.2 miles with the J&M in-fairing CB antennas ,,,,

I also found it very important to route the in-fairing antenna stinger wire exactly as per the instructions included with the antennas, as various other routings inside the fairing would significantly affect performance ,,,,,

in summary, even with the increased solar storm activity that will take place during the next 2-4 years, the Harley or J&M CB radios, on the Harley dressers, with the J&M in-fairing CB antennas, should be able to transmit and receive to distances between .5 and 1.5 miles depending upon the atmospheric conditions on a particular day, time of day or location, urban or rural ,,,,

JMJOHN ,,, John@Jmcorp.com ,,,,,

 

JMJOHN,

I have a question (and since you've broached the subject...).

I too am a Road Captain and I own the Flexpower antenna. It's a solid product that has worked as advertised (with slightly reduced output) for me. I occasionally have to switch back to a fender-mounted antenna to get back the additional 20 - 30 % transmission loss, so that I can assist with larger rides. To do that I have to pull off my outer fairing and physically redirect my antenna wiring.

Now to the question...Is there any kind of antenna switch you would recommend that would allow me to switch between the two, and be mountable somewhere on the inner fairing or handlebars? (I realize this is a long-shot).

In case it matters I have a 2006 Street Glide with the JM CB2003 radio (which, BTW, has performed flawlessly for me over the years).

--Rob