CB radio for 2008 Suzuki C50 Trike

[OntarioLes]

Looking for ideas to be able to have a CB radio on my trike. I have been using a hand-held Cobra with plug-in ear-bud with microphone - hard to use the PTT button on the microphone while riding and some messages are hard to hear. I would like to go to using in-helmet ear pieces and microphone with push-to-talk controls on the handlebars. This would probably mean installing a radio unit somewhere on the trike (possibly in the very small trunk) and wiring controls to the handle bars with a plug-in to the headset or possibly using a blue-tooth connection for the headset. Reports I get suggest that having such a radio installed in costly. So I am hoping to find a compact CB unit that I can fit to my trike and complete the connections. I am sure there riders who have done something like this. Look forward to feedback.

[OntarioLes]

Looking for ideas to be able to have a CB radio on my trike. I have been using a hand-held Cobra with plug-in ear-bud with microphone - hard to use the PTT button on the microphone while riding and some messages are hard to hear. I would like to go to using in-helmet ear pieces and microphone with push-to-talk controls on the handlebars. This would probably mean installing a radio unit somewhere on the trike (possibly in the very small trunk) and wiring controls to the handle bars with a plug-in to the headset or possibly using a blue-tooth connection for the headset. Reports I get suggest that having such a radio installed in costly. So I am hoping to find a compact CB unit that I can fit to my trike and complete the connections. I am sure there riders who have done something like this. Look forward to feedback.

Update: J&M Corp, Tucson, AZ make a compact CB that mounts on the left mirror base. I have ordered this complete with with cords and headsets to get "wired" for communication. The question remaining is about antenna. Since the trike section of my Suzuki is all fibreglass, it seems that a "no ground plane" antenna should be used. Also this presents a challenge for the actual type of mount as well as how to store the 18 feet of coax cable - with "no ground plane" the full length of cable must be used - cannot be shortened as it would diminish radio performance. Coiling the cable must be avoided so it suggested to loop the cable in a figure 8 (wire tie the center of the figure 8) keeping the length of this to about 12 inches.

Some riders I have talked with prefer to go the regular grounded antenna route.

Does anyone have suggestions on this?

[hogcowboy]

Either way the antenna on a bike is just troublesome at best. I have a ground antenna on my Indian and range is nothing like my car. Very short in comparison. I'd be interested in the ground plane antenna if you go that route. If you got the place to store all the coax it sounds like it might be better. But I don't know how you could store it all nice and out of site. Will be watching this thread for sure. And I do have a J&M. Good unit but my wife has the same on her Spyder and the two functionally do not perform the same. Another case of too much plastic is my best guess. Maybe the ham folks have better solutions or could at least chime in.

[OntarioLes]

After speaking with the Technical Dept at J&M, their radios will operate with either grounded or "no ground plane" antennas - the key is proper tuning for the antenna. All sources I found on antennas say the same - when there is no solid or accessible ground, "no ground plane" is the solution for many applications including marine, rv and motorcycles. My plan is to go the "no ground plane" route with a unique flat mount on the fibreglass. To make the install as pro looking as possible I hope to route the cable back and forth under the seats. Once installed will check the tuning to ensure best performance. Update to follow.

[hogcowboy]

Good luck.

[Scott1]

I would install the antenna wire figure 8 in the bottom of the trunk under the carpet.

My girlfriend's 2009 Vulcan 900 Classic, full dresser, I installed under the seat.

Greg

[OntarioLes]

Update: The J&M CB is installed and operating. The main challenge was mounting and running the coax cable for the antenna. I decided to use a "No Ground Plane" antenna since the body section of this Suzuki trike is all fibreglass construction with no accessible ground connections. Installing this type of antenna required using all the 18' of coax between the antenna and the cb unit. Coiling the coax would cause performance issues with the radio so we used figure 8 loops hidden behind/under the driver seat. The base unit is mounted on the left mirror post with a stainless steel plate designed for this cruiser style bike/trike. This unit included an Aux port for a media player or GPS unit as well as a PTT button for the passenger.

Wanted to add photos, was unable to even following the instructions in "How to Add Photos". It might be that I am using a Chrome book laptop, tried numerous times to upload. If anyone has suggestions on this, they would be greatly appreciated.

[Lee H. Mann]

Les, if the pictures are too large (exceed 200KB) the site may reject them. Try to change the resolution.

[OntarioLes]

Jim, thank you for the tip.

[hogcowboy]

Try using this online converter making the photo a 650 x 650 and a resolution of 70. It might make all the difference in getting the photos uploaded here.

Photo converter

[OntarioLes]

Attachment 90320

Thank you, hogcowboy!

[OntarioLes]

During a week of daily small group rides, this compact CB radio performed flawlessly. I chose the dual unit (also available for driver only) which provides a PTT feature for the passenger as well as the ability to plug in GPS or media player/FM receiver connected to a 48" antenna. The antenna is manually adjustable using the thumb-screw tip. The bigest chalenge was burying the 17 ft of cable safely in cavities under the seats.

Clear reception and reliable broadcast confirmed this as a good choice for a communication system on my Suzuki Boulevard Trike, definitely worth all the effort to install the FireStick no-ground plane antenna.