Short antenna

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Oldfart

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Lol. You must not drive above 50 ;) it bends but not too bad. So yours don’t lean in the wind?

Yea. I was impressed as well.
I got it in April. I’ve considered going back to the factory one because the flex. Looks awful on the freeway. Agree on the looks. But only below 50 mph :)

I use CarPlay and xm as well.

I'm wondering if there are some Chinese knock offs of the Rydonair antenna, or I was lucky & got one that's made a little better, or else they changed it recently. I went 90 today and the antenna just had a very slight flex to it. I thought maybe I just didn't notice it earlier when you guys were mentioning it. Today I was really looking for it and it's almost unnoticeable. You really have to stare at it to notice any difference. I would think the factory whip bends to at speeds like that.
 

Donmatteo

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I'm wondering if there are some Chinese knock offs of the Rydonair antenna, or I was lucky & got one that's made a little better, or else they changed it recently. I went 90 today and the antenna just had a very slight flex to it. I thought maybe I just didn't notice it earlier when you guys were mentioning it. Today I was really looking for it and it's almost unnoticeable. You really have to stare at it to notice any difference. I would think the factory whip bends to at speeds like that.
I think it’s heat related. Seems to be more when it’s been in the sun and not really at all in the morning when it’s cooler.
 

Traffic22

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Glad this thread exists. Good reading and thanks for the input on the different antenna types. Just ordered the Rydonair.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Oldfart

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I think it’s heat related. Seems to be more when it’s been in the sun and not really at all in the morning when it’s cooler.


That's really strange, today was about 80, bright sun, and I cruised around for about 2 hours. Towards the end I ran it up around 90 and it had just the slightest rearward bend, and it was evenly spread over the antenna so that even what was there, you really had to look for it.
 
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Donmatteo

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That's really strange, today was about 80, bright sun, and I cruised around for about 2 hours. Towards the end I ran it up around 90 and it had just the slightest rearward bend, and it was evenly spread over the antenna so that even what was there, you really had to look for it.
sounds like you have a good one. I’ll take a pic next time I’m driving and we can compare.
 

Reeves

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I use the AntennaMastsRus - The Original 6 3/4 Inch is Compatible with Ford F-150 (2009-2020) - Car Wash Proof Short Rubber Antenna - Internal Copper Coil - Premium... Size:6 3/4" Inch - PREMIUM CHOICE

If you look at the wavelengths for the RFG signals, this length makes the most sense
 

Ruger

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That’s not really how antennas work.

@isis is correct. Best FM reception is with an antenna that is 5/8ths the length of the radio waves it receives. This is accomplished by winding the antenna wire in spiral fashion about the stiff antenna mast on automotive antennas. A shorter antenna is achieved by shorting the mast and winding the same length of antenna wire more tightly about the mast.

Google 5/8ths wave antenna. You'll get 68,600,000 hits.
 
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