I'm not even getting that far of a range! I ride with other Ultras, and we can be few feet away or several bikes apart...it's all garbled. Kinda upsetting when we're playing blockers when riding in big groups...the com helps, but not much if ya can't understand what the other is saying!

Any tips on how to improve the signal strength? Booster or amps?

Tanks!

 

To get the best that you're going to get out of it, you need to go to a radio shop and have them tune the SWR. I don't think that the Harley factory does a very good job of doing that. Tuning the SWR won't get you huge improvement but any improvement helps.

 

1/4 mile...i get over a mile with the squelch adjusted....i have the stock long antenna.

 

It also depends on how busy the channel is.. try and pick one that isnt used much..there are 40 of them.

 

If your wife's car has a decent cb antenna, then that may help to compensate for the limited communication distance of the HD system during your trip. I am not talking about some magnetic short stick-on or clip-on antenna. I am talking about a 1/4 wave 108" whip, a real antenna designed to perform well at cb frequencies.

The key to distance at 27 mhz is antenna size (the shortys on the bikes (or cars) are very, very poor in this department), squelch threshold, receiver sensitivity (how was the HK cb tuned when it left the factory?) antenna and feedline tuning (if the impedance of the antenna is outside the range of 50 to 75 ohms) then most of your power will be reflected back to the cb unit and can, over time, damage the unit. You will need specialized equipment to check these parameters.

Sometimes guys think their cb does not work well because they have the squelch set too tightly OR their transmit audio is so low that the other guy thinks its a power thing with in fact it's a low audio thing. Make sure you press that PTT button firmly during each transmission and get that mic close to your mouth. HD and others use noise cancelling mics that are designed to NOT pick-up sound more than a few inches away from the mic element, so if you are too far away, your audio level rolls-off really quick and your transmit audio will be weak at best.

HD uses a really cheap coax (feedline) on these units. (Imagine that, HD using something cheap on a $20K+ bike). It is very susceptible to crushing with very little pressure. So the next time you have your outer faring off and seat off, take a moment to follow your cb coax line all of the way to the antenna to ensure that it is not being accidentally crushed somewhere along the way. Make sure the connector is good and hand tight on the back of the cb module as well. If you find flat spots in the coax where it has been crushed, try to squeeze it back into a round condition. This flatness will create an "impedance bump" and further deteriorate performance, so it's important to correct it if it exists.

If you have ignition, spark plug, stator, or grounding issues on your bike, you will probably hear exaggerated electrical noise in the receiver of your CB, further reducing your receive range. The extra popping and whining that the motor produces covers up weaker distant transmissions that otherwise you would be able to copy. A bike is not a very good radio platform for sure.

But even with the short antennas on my 2010, my range is much greater than 1/4 mile. I use it all of the time during organized rides. Good luck on your trip.

 

On my UC the am/fm is on the left and the CB is on the right. They are stamped on the antenna base. Reception is not great on mine. About 1/2 a mile or less on a good day. Something about motorcycles not having a good ground plane. I initially thought something was wrong with mine. From what I've read, the limited range seems to be pretty common with these radios.

 

I have an SWR meter but it has PL259 connectors on it like a normal CB antenna has. I checked the cable in the tourpak once and it has a funky push in type connector. Where can I get a couple of adapters?
Take care,
Dave

Update: I did some more checking online and the connector on the back of the radio is supposed to be a TNC connector. I have an adapter pack so when I get a chance, I'll pull the outer fairing and verify.....and check my SWR while I'm in there.

 

Cb's are like Harley's straight out of the factory. They need to be tuned up. The FCC regs on power output are 4watts max, most cb's with a 5 minute tune will go to 20 watts. Also coax seems to work better in 9,12,15,and 18 ft lengths. I'm guessing the coax is predetermined length that's a lot shorter. If you want it work right you might seek out your local cb shop and talk to the tech to see what you can do. But cb shops are like dealerships, some are good and some just stink!

 

Not sure where to start looking for a cb shop here in Germany, but I'll ask around...someone might know.