With the "police" radios, do they operate on police frequencies? Any problems with doing that?

Yes but I guess it depends on which frequencies your local guys use. I know you can get them programmed but I am not sure how - think it involves a computer.

That would require FCC frequency assignment and licensing which is not an easy (if even attainable) process.

In our neck of the woods the local authorities frown on you having even the police scanners, makes them wonder if have a less than legal reason to be listening in on them.

however.... since the police/fire/etc are public entities and funded by our tax dollars, there is nothing illegal about tuning into them. while they may not put the frequencies on their websites or on the back of the cars, they cannot forbid or ticket you for being tuned in to them. with that said, if you try to hook up a mic up and get in on their business, that IS illegal.

my dad's a photojournalist & is well versed in the rights of 'the public' in regards to access to the services that we pay for with our tax dollars & what is protected under the first amendment etc....

here's a decent reference : http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=1526

Absolutely, listen all you want, just don't transmit on any of those frequencies without a FCC license. That being said many public safety agencies are digitally encoding or "scarmbling" signals making it difficult if not impossible for the public to monitor. Personally, I listened to 32 years of police calls, if I never hear another one I'll be fine!

That's a handy bit of info to have! My brother just installed a radio on his Electra Glide and I know he was riding with the cover in place - will mention this thread to him for sure! My bike already had a radio installed when I got it, but it was the most ass-backwards installation I have ever seen. Already replaced the radio as the previous owner made an unfixable mess of the wiring, but I'm thinking of getting one of the Biketronics installation kits just to remount the radio I have in there now. After seeing it installed properly on my brother's bike I realized that the installation on mine is even odder then I thought. I think they sell the installation kit for about $50.00, so I may have to bite the bullet and order one.

The Biketronics kit installs without a hitch. I put mine in a few days ago biggest problem I had was finding a constant hot wire. I was about ready to run a home run wire from the battery to the fairing when I located a harness that had been cut in the fairing. It was spliced and running to a dark blue wire and a black wire. The one I used was an orange wire. I had previously tested plenty of orange wires and doubted my ground since none seemed hot so I had just changed my ground point prior to this find. As I was useing the cigarette lighter wire for accesory power, it is orange and red with a black ground wire and it was fine, I think the fuseblock for this was labeled A and P if I remember correctly, dont ask me how I know. I was told the orange and white wire was straight power but found this to be fused to the accesory fuse, labled Accessory on the fuse block. After resolving that issue I had found a female antenna wire end under the left side cover while in the fuse box and remembering there was a male end under the fairing. So I played with the antenna wires and wound up hooking the male end under the fairing up to the radio and then plugging the unit that came with the system in under the left side cover female end for the best reception.

Overall the system sounds great in the garage or driveway but lacking on the highway. I maybe should have gotten the amp and speaker upgrade for it. Hard to get a handle on tweeking it while riding, the darn button changes modes everytime you reach to adjust the volume, you try and turn it and almost always you'll click it and change a mode or three or four. And I lost my glove box which I had used for, well my gloves for one and my cigarettes and glasses for second and third.

Still I would recomend it if you are looking to upgrade to a radio, the mounting hardware is very easy and a nice setup. Just pick your components more wisely than I did. Mine may get better as I tweak it. But I'd say I need the Amp and speaker upgrade already.

Just a couple of suggestions ML, quit smoking, get heated grips and buy contacts (lol) Seriously, I put some foam material behind the speakers inside of the fairing. Seems to keep the speakers from being so raspy.

Hi,
I have a 08 FLHTP.
I also just installed the biketronics Sony.
The Sony yellow hot wire was posi-tapped into red/orange stripe wire going into connector 15, this wire goes to fuse #5 ... (2A) in the electrical chart) thats radio memory.
The Sony switched red wire was posi-tapped to orange/blue striped wire on connector 70, this wire goes to fuse #4...(1G on chart) which is radio power/siren.

Stu

CaptainB,
I don't wish the quit smoking thing on anyone, they have been real hard for me to walk away from. My wife smokes and most of my co-workers. Longest I've ever made it was 6 months. Hard to do when people are blowing smoke on you and saying " you'll never make it". Heated grips probably might be a good thing. So they work pretty well? Contacts, well I tried that when I was younger the old hard type always felt like they where blowing out of your eyes and my eyes would water like hell. Never tried the soft ones.
I got to tweaking around with the radio and it sounds pretty decent now although I have to have it up around 21 or 22 on the volume to hear it on the highway. I was a little peaved to learn it had no CD player though as I thought it did.

Stu,
Not sure where your info is from, my 2008 civilian manual had no references to the connector numbers or fuse numbers you mention. Or at least I did not find it. I figured you must have the police suppliment, I need one but have not yet obtained one. So basically I went with what the Sony instruction sheet said. #6 wire(red) To the +12 V power terminal which is energized in the accessory position of the ignition swith.
#7 wire(yellow) To the +12 V power terminal which is energized at all times. All and all I think its the same as what you are saying.
I'd like one of those supplement manuals sometime. This was a service bike, as I mentioned before one of the harness ends seems kind of hacked up. My buddy at the local dealership said that was not uncommon, he said they use an outside company that installs the lights and siren on the bikes. Also my charging system seems kind of odd always pulls 14 volts. When I get home and hook my Harley trickle charge up most times it is under 80%. After 15 to 30 minutes its back up to 100%. I hope my 2 year old battery is not going bad but I know it could be possible. Or worse there is a short somewhere I have yet to find.

ML, I know where you are coming from on the smoking thing, enough said. The heated grips that I use are aftermarket. Called Heat Deamons by Symtec. They are realtively easy to install (if you did the radio you can certainlly do the grips), perform very well, are are much less expensive than HD ones ($120.00). As for the contacts I recently opted from progressive lens glasses to mono-vision soft contacts (different contact in each eye, one for distance, one for reading). I put them in in the morning, ignore them all day, and take them out before bed. Best thing I ever did for my vision. About 3 times a year I buy 6 pair for around $50 so $150 a year is cheaper than glasses.
My radio came with a single cd player. I'd check your order and make sure that they didn't pull a switch on you.

I finally got the installation kit and re-installed my radio properly. Was a tight fit getting the radio with the plate on it into position to replace the glove box, but I managed to get it in there - looks 100% better with only 1 small downside. On the way into work this morning I discovered that my left turn signal indicator light is not working any more The signal is still working, just not the indicator - right side still working. I'm thinking that in the process of getting the stereo aligned I must have popped a wire off the indicator light. Going to have to remove the fairing again and look for a wire floating around in there! But the stereo DOES look way better and I have a cap to keep the water out, so overall still happy. lol.

I saw a booth at a show recently for Arc Audio. They have motorcycle systems. The guy here in OKC is an ex firefighter and travels to shows installing them. He told me Marine speakers are nothing special. He said the materials that moderns speakers are made of hold up well to the weather. I can remember years (decades?) ago the paper speakers in cars pooped out when they got wet. I have not decided to get a system yet, but this may be an alternative, or a source for those of you needing an amp that will tuck up in the fairing.

http://www.arcaudio.com/Motorcycle.asp
Doug