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I also just bought the Firestik no Ground Plane Antenna system using the thinner FireFly antenna thats 3 feet long. I am going to try and figure-8 the excess cable under the tour pack.
A month ago I bought some coax and cut it down to 9 feet (I think it was), and ran new grounds from the tour pack to the front frame section. I am now getting a SWR of just under 2 but I want better, hence why I am trying the Firestick NGP Antenna this weekend.
The more I read about CB's on motorcycle... the more I am amazed that it works at all.
Last edited by Dr. Tiki; Nov 12, 2020 at 12:00 AM.
I also just bought the Firestik no Ground Plane Antenna system using the thinner FireFly antenna thats 3 feet long. I am going to try and figure-8 the excess cable under the tour pack.
A month ago I bought some coax and cut it down to 9 feet (I think it was), and ran new grounds from the tour pack to the front frame section. I am now getting a SWR of just under 2 but I want better, hence why I am trying the Firestick NGP Antenna this weekend.
The more I read about CB's on motorcycle... the more I am amazed that it works at all.
Thanks for the input. That link is useful. I've purchased several of that part for my use helping local riders.
I will caution using the NGP Firestick that it requires using the longer (about 17 ft) coax harness that comes with and/or is designed to be used with that antenna. The NGP antennas use a special coax as a counterpoise instead of a normal ground.
It would be cheaper & probably just as or more effective to utilize a Firefly model (available in both 3 ft & 4 ft lengths). It's both thinner & more flexible and I think you'll easily be able to get at least a 1.1:1 match using the FL3 model.
My understanding is that a motorcycle does not have enough ground plane in order to use a 'normal' ground plane antenna hence a NGP (No Ground Plane) Antenna is needed. Basically, the more I read about it, it's a miracle a CB works at all on a motorcycle.
I am aware of the extra coax and I have a plan to address it. Once I get the bike on the lift tomorrow, I'll see if my plan will work or if I need to run the coax a different way.
Thanks for the input. That link is useful. I've purchased several of that part for my use helping local riders.
I will caution using the NGP Firestick that it requires using the longer (about 17 ft) coax harness that comes with and/or is designed to be used with that antenna. The NGP antennas use a special coax as a counterpoise instead of a normal ground.
It would be cheaper & probably just as or more effective to utilize a Firefly model (available in both 3 ft & 4 ft lengths). It's both thinner & more flexible and I think you'll easily be able to get at least a 1.1:1 match using the FL3 model.
Report back please.
So far so good. I got the Firestik NGP Antenna System on the bike now. I buttoned everything up Friday night in the garage before an early Saturday morning ride. So I did my tuning in the worst possible place... inside my shop.
I did a quick test in Death Valley on a group ride the next morning (hence the rush to get everything buttoned up Friday night) and I was getting one mile easy (was the furthest I tested it). Even with the questionable tune, we could hear each other clearly. I'm thinking 1.5 miles is perfectly doable with the current tune and >2 miles with a better tune on it.
17' of coax was no problem at all. I came off the back of the CB Module, then routed basically a big lazy loop inside the front fairing beforeI brought the cable down the left side of the frame neck, under the tank. I kept the coax on the left side of the bike under the seat then just followed the cables up along the other cables that go to the tour pack. Once inside the tour pack, I just ran it around the edge of the metal plate back to the antenna mount.
I had to use two adapters:
1) Antenna adapter to use the stock antenna mount with the Firestik.
2) Adapter on the coax cable to screw into the CB Module.
The coax is wrapped with tesa tape inside the front fairing and inside the tour pack to keep possible rattles down.
(pictures were taken during test fitting, tape wasn't wrapped yet)
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