Little stubby replacement antenna

[XLTRangerRick]

When I switched to the short antenna there was a very noticeable drop in FM station signal as tested in a parking lot with radio on. The terrain is mountainous with many peaks and valleys. Had to stick with the stock antenna.

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[Alaska Steve]

the gain is different, there is no doubt about that. it's physics.
now the rest goes with just how strong signal you have in your area...

I’ve worked in radio technologies for 40yrs… shorter antenna means less signal reception, simple as that. The antenna from the factory was a fractional wavelength, and they only made it worse when they changed it out.

 

[LeeHo]

LOL... speak for yourself

I was wondering who would be the 1st to comment on that one.

 

[smokinjoe64]

Zero issues noticed with 'stubby' replacement; at least in SoCal.

 

[Chente04]

Most of the radio station broadcast towers are located southwest of Houston. Broadcast signals very strong in the area. You may not even need an antenna. I used to live in the area but now live north of Houston and need antennas to get all the Houston stations.
It would be interesting to see how well the short antenna works while traveling.

I live north of Houston as well like 10min north of Kingwood, and had a noticeable loss of signal when I swapped to a shorty

 

[dard6555]

Major cities like Houston, Seattle and LA utilize 100kw radio stations. Us lesser folk in more rural areas are limited to 50kw stations. This difference in power, also changes reception quality.

Joordan and Alaska Steve are correct, antennas need to be a specific length for a given frequency. 100mhz is a meter in length, so quarter wave would be 25cm, or 9.8 inches. I believe the stock antenna is close to that. You can take that length of wire and wrap it in a tighter package, but there are still trade offs.

I have found a cheat which is to stream my local station with the truck hotspot and reception issues are now non-existent.

 

[Alaska Steve]

…. antennas need to be a specific length for a given frequency. 100mhz is a meter in length, so quarter wave would be 25cm, or 9.8 inches. I believe the stock antenna is close to that. You can take that length of wire and wrap it in a tighter package, but there are still trade offs.

A 1/4 wavelength antenna has 6db less gain than a full wavelength antenna. A 1/8th wavelength antenna has 3db less gain than a 1/4 wave antenna. Likewise, 50KW is 3db less than 100KW. So in a non-urban area, the stubby antenna is a 6db disadvantage or a 4x disadvantage compared to the stock antenna in an urban setting.

 

[Freedom Beast]

Spotify....problem solved. lol

 

[jorosz0309]

I honestly don't think I've turned the AM/FM radio on. I listen to Sirius or stream from phone at pretty much all times. I assume I can just replace with the stubby then.

 

[RANGER/HOBB]

Been running a stubby power loaded antenna for months now, there is no appreciable drop in signal. Pick up all the FM channels I did before installing it.

 

[superj]

You guys in houston think there is a loss from the sugarland area up towards the spring area, come down to corpus and port aransas. Than drive to any other area, houston, san antonio, the rio grande valley, and we lose signal with stock antennas.

I never had an issue around houston with a stubby ronin antenna on my titan. Since the antenna is on top of the ranger, i will probably never change it because it doesnt get whipped around and hit the windshield frame but who knows, maybe some day.

I wish siriusxm was available on the ford radio but i guess it got dropped for android auto or apple carplay? Siriusxm was nice because i could listen to the same stari9n from the bottom of texas to any state i drove to... Dc, carolinas, colorado, cali, anywhere.

 

[trock85]

Hi Everyone

I just got my "Lil Stubby" from Amazon and swapped it in, mainly because I have a monthly pass for a car wash and was told not to run the normal on thru it

My Radio and Sirius have both been fine with no noticeable loss of signal, north of Pittsburgh PA

easiet mod i have ever done to lol

 

[boraxman]

I went with the 4" CravenSpeed "The Stubby". Cant tell any reception difference and it looks a whole lot better/

 

[Lion77]

I think it's not much of an issue for most who use Android Auto or Apple Car Play through their phone as it obviously is dependent on the phone reception rather than the wavelength and power of the FM band + length of the receiving antenna.

Here's another slightly older school option if you primarily listen to music: USB flash drive with MP3's on it. I have a few thousand songs on a flash drive I periodically update with new artists / songs, no reception required at all for that!

For podcasts / streaming, I just use the phone anyway so generally I don't care what the reception is on the FM antenna unless maybe I'm in town and the shorty is fine for that. I do like having BOTH the phone and build in GPS though as my GPS will work in remote areas the phone transceiver doesn't.

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