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I have read with interest the discussions about how to make the tour pak detachable again - after the the antenna has been wired into it (making it no longer detachable - at least not easily). I spent last Saturday mucking around with this and came upon a solution that I am very happy with, so I thought it would be worth sharing here.
The costs involved were (Cdn $):
- 3 foot antenna kit: $15.00
- Radio Shack antenna mount: $16.00
- One-side-sticky foam rubber tape: $12.00
- Plastic electrical ties: nil
Total: $45.00
The three main problems involved with the relocation (as I saw it) were:
- What kind of antenna mount to use
- How best to handle the cable so that no signal degradation results
- How to make it look good
One of the main things to avoid in antenna setups (if possible) is to not splice in additional connectors because some signal loss will be inevitable. For this reason, I chose a method where the original cable can be simply unscrewed from inside the tour pak and reused without changing the current connector.
The location of the new antenna was also important, for aesthetic reasons. The arrangement I found suitable in this regard follows. I began by putting a sturdy antenna mount on the rear, lower (larger) bar of the right-hand saddle bag guard as far to the right as possible before the corner bend in the bar. This makes clearing the tour pak above possible.
The antenna mounting bracket I used is the one pictured above and is commonly available from Radio Shack. I don't have the part number, but it is sold as a mount for a CB antenna (c/w the antenna mounting stem - which we will not use for our purposes). I think the diagram above should help you identify this mount, but I will update this site with the part number if I get it later. The reasons I like this bracket are that it is sturdy, has a good gripping surface (for around the bar), is rust-resistant and it looks good. This bracket is made of very heavy gauge (a good 1/4" thick) aluminum.
I then bought an antenna kit that includes a mounting bracket. As most are, the bracket that came with the kit is basically crap (and looks like it when bolted to the guard rail), so I threw that part away. I also did not need the antenna cable that came with it (because I was going to use the one already on the bike). Only the antenna and the nut & bolt it has (for mounting on my Radio Shack bracket) was needed.
I moved the antenna already on the tour pak - which is quite long - onto the new bracket mounted on the saddle guard and put the newly purchased antenna onto the tour pak instead. By the way, the tour pak antenna has small allen screws that need to be loosened in order to unscrew it from its shaft. The additional antenna kit I bought has the same screw thread (which is probably pretty standard), so the swap is easy.
The length of the newly purchased antenna important. Why? Because if it is about 3 feet long, the switch results in two antennaes that attain the same height above the ground (recall that the original antenna, moved to the new bracket, is much longer than 3 feet).
The positioning of the two antennae ends up giving a balanced look to the bike (one on the left, one on the right), where the newly placed, right antenna passes about an inch past the right side of the tour pak. You should, of course, also adjust the dip angle of the new antenna mount so that the angles of the two antennae match.
If (like me) you feel protection against the antenna whacking the side of the tour pak is necessary, simply adhere a small length of sticky-on-one-side, black foam to the side of the tour pak lid (where contact by the antenna will occur). This is the kind of one-side-sticky tape you buy for replacing sealing around a car hatch, and such. This should not look as bad as you may think at first. I have already used some of this on the lid of my tour pak between the bars of the rack I have mounted to it. I do this because I like to carry an extra helmet (attached by one of those elastic helmet nets) on the rack. The placement of the foam strips protects the lid from the rubbing of the underside of the helmet and the jangling of the D-rings. And it doesn't look bad at all (as long as you cut the strips uniformly and place them evenly). It's also good for protecting from the rubbing of a duffel back bungied onto the tour pak, but I digress.
So, according to what has been described, the antennae is now swapped. The one left on the tour pak will now be simply a 'dummy' (taking it off and patching the hole that is left in the tour pak would be troublesome and not worth it because two antennae look nice anyway).
You now disattach the antenna lead from the tour pak mounting inside the pak, pop out the rubber grommet coming out of the bottom of the pak, and pull out the wire. Then snip any plastic ties attaching the lead to the frame of the bike, leading up to the seat.
Now take the seat off the bike, reroute the wire to the opposite side of the bike (using the same path as was used on the left side). When bringing it along the right side, take care not to position anything so that it causes rubbing against the shock air lines. Use electrical plastic ties as necessary, bringing the wire down to the right saddle bag guard, over to the new antenna mount, and you're done! With judicious use of white/clear electrical ties, the cable should be hardly visible after you are done and the factory antenna cable should be just long enough to cover the distance (but not by much!).
It seems to me that this solution looks good and it will not degrade your AM/FM reception. If anyone has any comments or suggestions for improvements, just let me know. You can email me by clicking on the link shown below.
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