I want the Freedom Cycle short replacements too. After reading that Slacker has had delivery delays, I e-mailed Freedom Cycle to ask about delivery. Here is a part of the reply from Freedom Cycle: "the antennas are in stock and should only take three days to get them. Why anyone would say different is news to me..." I am not sure what happened with Slackers order, but I think I will order the antennas. I will let you guys know if I receive the antennas and how they work, on FM anyway as I don't really use the CB other than listening ocassionally for cop locations and traffic conditions.

Jerry

 

Ok, I'm gonna step up for a home run and make a offer that no can refuse. I have the meter that is required to adjust the gain. I am willing to UPS (ground) the thing to some one who wants to use it. However I want it BACK. The meter can go to as many riders as request it. Just keep "paying it forward" The first person that breaks the shipping chain is a dirt bag. The dead line to get it back to me is January 1, 2006.
Any takers? Remember you gotta keep it moving to the next person. How that's gonna happen I don't know. I don't want to manage or organize it. You folks out there handle it.

Joe

PS
if you still want to purchase your own the catalog number on the meter is 21-523 (radio shack)

 

Toy:

By God that is one helluva Brotherly offer (and yeah...that's an uppercase "B"! Proud to know you, even if by forum only!

Tye meter is an SWR meter, I assume?

Guys, this is a really cool idea...and a gesture that leaves me speechless and proud to be on an HD with folks like this!

 

NM,
Yes it is a SWR meter. Are you first up? Do I need to ship it to you?

Joe

 

Appreciate the offer, Toy...I have one someplace...I am just still uncertain about the short Freedom Cycles one for the CB...mine (stock whip) works real well, but if thre is no degradation in signal out and in, I will go with those. So far no one has said anything about CB reception and transmisson though....anyone?

 

OK,
So here is my experience with the CB short antennas...
Works just as well as the long ones. The "body" of the bike is small for a ground base to pick up CB signal. For it's size it does well. If you get two miles range from a bike CB you have done very well. After all you are trying to use this as bike to bike comunication. I have, believe it or not, when the atmospheric conditions are correct hooked up with CB users in Seattle and I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area. I was at the top of Sonora pass this July and I picked up someone from Utah. CB works the way IT wants to. That's why the Govmint gave it to us civilians. If it was really worth anything we wouldn't be allowed to use it for our own protection.
So if you are worried about the range, you are just splitting hairs. If you like the looks of the shorties just get'um and have a nice little project to do when they arrive UPS.

And for the person still not recieving the order...Did anyone use the UPS tracking system? It works great and it is interesting to see your package go from facility to facility. If the package was left at your house it will show date and time.

Joe

 

Yeah, Toy...I have had CBs in almost all of my vehicles (except scoots) and am familiar with "skip" transmitting. Went thru Firesticks, Wilsons, etc. on a Cobra 29 LTD (tweaked and clipped) and didn't see too much difference in antennas, but yep...the limited ground plane of an Ultra (being that most of it is plastic) made me wonder if the whip length may be just a bit stronger. Seems not?

 

Hi Folks, No offense intended to the local CB fellow. But I believe he meant SWR. The length of the antenna is critical to transmission more so than receive.

You can determine the proper length of an antenna by using a formula:

Wavelength (in feet) = 984 / frequency (in megahertz)

The CB portion of the spectrum begins at 25.01 megahertz, so a full wavelength antenna would be a bit more than 39.34 feet long. That's obviously a little long to attach to your bumper, so people tend to use antennas that are a fraction of the wavelength: 1/2, 5/8, 1/4 and 1/8 are all common wavelengths for antennas. In the case of CB, the 1/4 antenna at just under 10 feet long is the common "whip" that you may see on cars and trucks. Shorter antennas have a load at the base.

When a compromise like this is made, you have to see whether it's a good compromise. This is done by measuring the Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) of the antenna and cable between the antenna and tuning the antenna until the SWR is acceptable.

As you can see it quickly becomes complex. not to be verbose but here's a bit more for the do-it-yourselfer:

To tune an antenna, use an SWR meter attached between the transmitter and antenna feed-line. Depending on the meter, you can either use a button on the meter to generate a signal on the various channels, or key the microphone on the CB transceiver to generate a signal while you look at the SWR reading. In general, if the SWR never goes above 1.5:1, you're in good shape. If the SWR does go above 1.5:1, then watch the meter on different frequencies to see the trend develop: The SWR will be greater either on the higher channels or the lower. If the SWR is greater on the lower channels, then try gradually lengthening the antenna by moving it in the base. If the SWR is greater on the higher channels, try shortening the antenna.

 

Yeah, what he said. Tiny changes in the adjustment length make a big difference in the SWR meter reading. That's been my experience.

Joe

 

Still no antennas from Freedom Cycle Reno, and the guys there are full of excuses. Card was charged almost 2 weeks ago and they can't seem to figure out where my antennas are. Also they won't give me a tracking number so I can see for myself where the "package" is.

I have emailed and called them, and spoken to Rick the service/parts manager on the phone. His response so far is nothing except he will "call me back". Three days to deliver? My hiney.