Antenna mythbusting

[YJdude]

My OEM antenna got bent badly in a car wash. One of these days I'll replace it with another OEM antenna because I for one like the old school look.

Did that incident cause the antenna to strike the body or glass?

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[double J]

Get the Rydonair antenna. I’ve had it on two Jeeps, works great.
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[Hpc3]

1. Its not that they break, they get whipped and smack the windshield and a-pillar causing damage.

2. If you live in a city near the stations antennas you wont notice any signal loss. I however live 30-40 minutes from the stations and aftermarket antennas have lousy reception. I have the exact antenna you linked to on my Jeep right now.

Yep - I cheated and used a 21" version recently and it's definitely worse than the stocker here. YMMV.

Looks cool though lol.

 

[J0E]

I would love to have my stock antenna back. Worst mod I made on my jeep was a stubby antenna. Gladly buy someones. Or trade my stubby.

I put my stock antenna back on because the tallest cheap stubby I could find can't pull in any of the stations on other islands that we listen . We have very few rides in the bush and it's easy enough to swap them.

 

[Maverick909]

I returned to stock from the OP linked shorty about two months ago. Reception was terrible with the shorty

 

[hoch]

I listen to the radio regularly. Mostly news and talk shows, on both FM and AM. Love the stock antenna for that. If I only streamed, I’d probably just lop off several inches from the stock antenna.

 

[Recoil]

I would love to have my stock antenna back. Worst mod I made on my jeep was a stubby antenna. Gladly buy someones. Or trade my stubby.

I mean, you can just buy another if that's what you prefer. This one is like 30 buckaroos on the official Mopar store.

https://store.mopar.com/oem-parts/mopar-antenna-mast-56038725ac?c=bD0xJm49U2VhcmNoIFJlc3VsdHM=

 

[fat_head]

Did that incident cause the antenna to strike the body or glass?

Not that I know of. It just had a 30 degree bend in the antenna.

 

[blnewt]

Only time we really use our radio antenna is for the drive in theater when we go to Las Vegas, fun to go back in time at the drive in Our stubby was a no go, only static reception. Since we went back to the OEM the reception is crystal clear, and we can understand wtf they're saying now

 

[rickinAZ]

What exactly is being myth busted here? Because you don’t have these two issues they are myths?

I was trying to be cute. Please forgive me for having some fun.

Next time I'll analyze a more serious "issue" like whether a 40" spare can be mounted on the stock carrier without reinforcement. Alternatively, we'll explore whether my Jeep would look odd on 40s and just keeping my 32" spare.

 

[ArcadeTracks]

I suppose "reception" depends on what you're trying to receive and where you are at the time.

I could be completely wrong about this, but I think some vehicles have "antennas" built into a side window -- they are zigzag and look almost like defroster lines. How do those work? Would something like that work in a Wrangler?

 

[jeepoch]

All, the stubby antenna works great at the higher frequency FM spectrum. The length is tuned for these frequencies. However, the lower frequency AM band requires a longer antenna in order to have optimal reception.

So you should see an increase in receiver gain for FM but a decrease for AM. Therefore, close or powerful AM stations should be received well and all FM stations should be received a lit bit better.

Remember the stock (long) antenna was a compromise to try and receive both equally. So if you prefer AM, keep the stock antenna. Otherwise, it's a no-brainer to go with a stubby.

Jay

 

[TX_Ovrlnd]

I was trying to be cute. Please forgive me for having some fun.

Next time I'll analyze a more serious "issue" like whether a 40" spare can be mounted on the stock carrier without reinforcement. Alternatively, we'll explore whether my Jeep would look odd on 40s and just keeping my 32" spare.

It's a tough crowd! I have a stubby and like the look of stubby antennae but they are not as efficient as the OEM. Antennae must be cut to the wave length.

As long as the 40s are mounted on some 22s and give you 6 inches of poke you'll be okay here!

 

[TylerV76]

All, the stubby antenna works great at the higher frequency FM spectrum. The length is tuned for these frequencies. However, the lower frequency AM band requires a longer antenna in order to have optimal reception.

So you should see an increase in receiver gain for FM but a decrease for AM. Therefore, close or powerful AM stations should be received well and all FM stations should be received a lit bit better.

Remember the stock (long) antenna was a compromise to try and receive both equally. So if you prefer AM, keep the stock antenna. Otherwise, it's a no-brainer to go with a stubby.

Jay

I havent found this to be the case with any of the stubby antennas (tried probably half a dozen and various lengths). With the stock antenna I can receive all fm channels I try. With the stubby I can receive 2 if I sit in my driveway and they often contain static. Once I start driving its unusable

 

[rickinAZ]

BTW: the reason that I started this post is because I'd been toying with the idea of replacing the OEM antenna with a shorty, but seemingly every post on this forum decried them, so I held off. I wanted to show that they worked for me, so that members would not immediately write them off (as I had, based on negative reviews). I get that they don't work as well in rural areas, but some of us (maybe even most of us) live in metro areas.

As for car wash issues, I'm not sure why rural vs urban matters, unless your local car wash was built in the 20th century. I rotate between four different (ultra-modern) car washes with no problems - and I see a ton of Jeeps using the same car washes. [Yes, the OEM bounces around, but harmlessly.]

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