Antenna help
Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 34
Likes: 0
From: Vandling PA
I put in a splitter when I hooked up my hidden antenna and am looking for a short antenna that will fit under the tour pack. Most of the time the signal is OK, but nowhere near as good as the original. I don't like the look of the relocation bracket. Any links on < 10 inch antennas?
Tourer
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 367
Likes: 0
From: MI
But like I said earlier, I'm no expert in radios. That's why I'm asking here.
Road Captain
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 525
Likes: 1
From: Oklahoma
FM antennas are what are considered omni-directional antennas. Meaning they don't have to be pointed. I also don't think that the reception of two antennas is directly combined at a splitter. If you have a shorty that works well it's not gonna improve it to add a hidden. The radio is only going to see the reception from the strongest antenna. I just don't think the hidden antennas work very well under fairings that are painted with any kind of metal flake
Tourer
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 367
Likes: 0
From: MI
FM antennas are what are considered omni-directional antennas. Meaning they don't have to be pointed. I also don't think that the reception of two antennas is directly combined at a splitter. If you have a shorty that works well it's not gonna improve it to add a hidden. The radio is only going to see the reception from the strongest antenna. I just don't think the hidden antennas work very well under fairings that are painted with any kind of metal flake
Also, does anyone know if connecting the two antennas to the input of the radio will fry the radio as mentioned above?
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 4,928
Likes: 69
From: Near Myrtle Beach, SC
Pyro,
You can hook anything up to a receiver in the form of an antenna or combination of antennas and it wont hurt a thing. Now why you would do this is another subject, but I will stick to your questions. Connecting just the coax from where the other antenna was connected won't hurt anything, but probably won't help either. You see that is a shielded cable, so the center conductor is inside of a metal shield for it's entire length. Thats a good thing when it's connected to a proper antenna though. What you can do is short the far end of that coax together and then the wire will act similar to a long wire antenna of sorts. Feeding both the active antenna and the old antenna wire into the receiver will hurt absolutely nothing. If it helps you get better reception, then that's a win win. Just remember, there are always performance trade-offs when going with a shorter, less efficient antenna. I get the idea of style and hidden antennas, just understand that with those items comes performance issues in many cases.
You can hook anything up to a receiver in the form of an antenna or combination of antennas and it wont hurt a thing. Now why you would do this is another subject, but I will stick to your questions. Connecting just the coax from where the other antenna was connected won't hurt anything, but probably won't help either. You see that is a shielded cable, so the center conductor is inside of a metal shield for it's entire length. Thats a good thing when it's connected to a proper antenna though. What you can do is short the far end of that coax together and then the wire will act similar to a long wire antenna of sorts. Feeding both the active antenna and the old antenna wire into the receiver will hurt absolutely nothing. If it helps you get better reception, then that's a win win. Just remember, there are always performance trade-offs when going with a shorter, less efficient antenna. I get the idea of style and hidden antennas, just understand that with those items comes performance issues in many cases.
Thread Starter
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Intermediate
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 28
Likes: 0
From: Florida
Thanks Lowcountry Joe, My ultimate goal is obviously to just get better reception. If it helps having both connected then good for me if not nothing lost. Thanks everyone for your help.
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