Flexible Rubber Antenna Replacement - Rydonair?

[hoag4147]

Where’s that red bling from? Nice!

Rydonair Antenna Compatible with Jeep Wrangler JK JKU JL JLU Rubicon Sahara (2007-2021) | 13 inches Flexible Rubber Antenna Replacement | Designed for Optimized FM/AM Reception W/Red Bottom https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GXCY78...abc_2TWE3X7J1JXCZRS1G9P3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

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[mgarciaknight]

I have that exact 13" Rydonair and it works great. I've had it since last September. FM reception is great, I don't listen to AM. I am in central Florida so I don't know how challenging it is to get a radio signal, but like I said, it's great. No differences between my Jeep and my wife's car as far as reception. I went with this one and the 13" because I do use the radio and didn't want to lose reception. I'm very happy with mine.

I don't live in the city, but I don't live on a farm either. I've driven across Florida where there's nothing for a while and I notice no difference from stock. I'm not saying there isn't, but I can't tell where I've been.

Completely disagree with you. I live

I have that exact 13" Rydonair and it works great. I've had it since last September. FM reception is great, I don't listen to AM. I am in central Florida so I don't know how challenging it is to get a radio signal, but like I said, it's great. No differences between my Jeep and my wife's car as far as reception. I went with this one and the 13" because I do use the radio and didn't want to lose reception. I'm very happy with mine.

I don't live in the city, but I don't live on a farm either. I've driven across Florida where there's nothing for a while and I notice no difference from stock. I'm not saying there isn't, but I can't tell where I've been.

I completely disagree with you. I live in north west central florida about 50 miles out of Orlando and OEM antenna picks up radio station fine, but this 13 antenna is garbage. The music would fade in and out and would give you a headache. Or not pick up the station at all. Wasted $15 and non-existing customer service.

 

[Longhair1957]

I have the shorter one. It has picked up all my stations that my stock one did for me in the Phx area.

 

[Carolina Jeeper]

I've been using this antenna for 2 years. There is some loss of reception of far off FM stations. It's mostly occurs when I'm driving in valleys.

One thing I want to mention that had happened shortly after installed this antenna. About a month after installation I noticed reception was not good like it was at first. I removed it to check it and cleaned the threads and also added copper anti seize compound. Reception returned and even better than at first. Might be worth keeping in mind for those that experience reception issues.

 

[Jeepster21]

Good to know.

I've been using this antenna for 2 years. There is some loss of reception of far off FM stations. It's mostly occurs when I'm driving in valleys.

One thing I want to mention that had happened shortly after installed this antenna. About a month after installation I noticed reception was not good like it was at first. I removed it to check it and cleaned the threads and also added copper anti seize compound. Reception returned and even better than at first. Might be worth keeping in mind for those that experience reception issues.

 

[oldcjguy]

Completely disagree with you. I live

I completely disagree with you. I live in north west central florida about 50 miles out of Orlando and OEM antenna picks up radio station fine, but this 13 antenna is garbage. The music would fade in and out and would give you a headache. Or not pick up the station at all. Wasted $15 and non-existing customer service.

Not sure what part of my experience you disagree with, but the antenna I bought was $25 not $15. Maybe you got a good deal on a bad antenna? Hope you found something that worked for you.

 

[Jhawth]

I'm surprised people even listen to AM/FM radio still lol. I'll be taking my antenna off and putting a cap on it, I haven't listen to a FM radio station in probably close to 4 or 5 years.

 

[mgarciaknight]

Not sure what part of my experience you disagree with, but the antenna I bought was $25 not $15. Maybe you got a good deal on a bad antenna? Hope you found something that worked for you.

Could be a bad antenna. I got the one he tagged on his original post, 13” Rydonair, thru Amazon. I went back to the OEM. I might try the copper anti seize and see if that works.

 

[Rhinebeck01]

I'm surprised people even listen to AM/FM radio still lol. I'll be taking my antenna off and putting a cap on it, I haven't listen to a FM radio station in probably close to 4 or 5 years.

@Jhawth

Unfortunately, the day may come when you truly regret doing this.

In times of local disaster ..... fire, flood, etc. sometimes a lets say life line is the local AM/FM channel(s) giving you info on how to get out of town.... which direction the fire or tornado is coming from, large hail coming, where to go for supplies like food and water.... where to go to find medical, local news related to disaster... etc. ,etc..

Forum member's that have never had to use AM/FM in say disaster times, etc. don't realize just how important and... just what having AM/FM can mean to you in bad times.

More often then not, good old local, AM/FM is still working when Internet, XM and such are not.......

Were my Sons to tell me they were deleting their AM/FM antennaes on their vehicles, I would tell them to think otherwise.... Sure it looks cool but doing so is kinda pound foolish.

For the record, I am an avid Xm user.. rarely use the AM/FM ...

 

[Jhawth]

@Jhawth

Unfortunately, the day may come when you truly regret doing this.

In times of local disaster ..... fire, flood, etc. sometimes a lets say life line is the local AM/FM channel(s) giving you info on how to get out of town.... which direction the fire or tornado is coming from, large hail coming, where to go for supplies like food and water.... where to go to find medical, local news related to disaster... etc. ,etc..

Forum member's that have never had to use AM/FM in say disaster times, etc. don't realize just how important and... just what having AM/FM can mean to you in bad times.

More often then not, good old local, AM/FM is still working when Internet, XM and such are not.......

Were my Sons to tell me they were deleting their AM/FM antennaes on their vehicles, I would tell them to think otherwise.... Sure it looks cool but doing so is kinda pound foolish.

For the record, I am an avid Xm user.. rarely use the AM/FM ...

That's a pretty valid point, perhaps I'll keep a spare in the vehicle somewhere in case the need does arise.

 

[MrGneissGuy]

In my commute to work, I hit pretty close to the limit of the two FM stations that I listen to on the rare occasion that I listen to FM. Prior to my Jeep, I've driven probably half dozen or more different vehicles (personal and work vehicles) along that route. I start to get static in roughly the same place in all. I have the 13" on my Wrangler and hit static at roughly the same spot (depending on weather/cloud cover/or whatever other thing causes variation in reception).

I actually had the 13" antenna sitting and waiting on my Wrangler to be delivered and put it on as soon as I got it home, so I technically cannot compare it directly to the OEM antenna. But it's as good as all of the other vehicles I've used on my commute.

 

[Jeepster21]

Installed last night, worked great on the way into work today.

 

[hcoyote]

This was one of the first things I swapped out on my Rubicon. As someone else mentioned, it works reasonably ok if you have a decent line of sight to the broadcast tower. But as soon as I dip down into valleys, it starts to fade. I've also had it fade sitting on the other side of a large metal sign between me and the tower. The other place I notice that it gets weaker is in my garage. My house has radiant foil on the roof underlayment and that definitely impacts the radios in the house (including the 2m base station which is attached to a Diamond X30a half-wave in my office).

Overall: decent. Not stellar. But it'll depend on the topography you drive around in.

For reference, I'm in Central Texas, so it's not exactly flat here.

 

[Chupacabra]

Gonna try this Rydonair antenna myself. I rarely listen to AM/FM and had a stubby one on my TJ before this so am prepared for what I'll potentially lose. I just like the less gangly looking antenna but will have AM/FM in a pinch if I ever need it.

 

[Wolfy]

I just replaced mine tonight. I'm in a spot where I get crappy reception on one of the FM stations I listen to, but after that swap, the reception did not degrade at all, and may even be better. As for as 1/2 wave 3/4 wave whatever, I'm sure this antenna is wound and loaded (probably top loaded). It definitely would not work as well as it does otherwise ( I guess for me at least ). There was also a helpful comment on Amazon about the paint on the threads for the adapter. If there is not sufficient conductive contact, it will not work as well. Someone else mentioned adding antisieze and it worked better (antisieze is usually conductive). Both of these comments lead me to believe that if there is good electrical contact through the system it will improve things. Conversely, it might be the cause of some people's performance problems.

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