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Decent Aerial


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Hi

I've been running a cheapo rubber duck aerial on the 110 for a while, and it's frankly rubbish. The mounting hole on the 110 is larger than the standard fitting, so I had to fit a penny washer underneath, which soon corroded and stopped the reception from being any good, and now it's all seized together so I'm going to have to get the grinder out to replace it :( 

I've had a look round for a decent quality aerial that fits properly, but all I can find is the Nakatanenga one at close to £100 :o

Any other suggestions for something that will fit well (with the larger base size) at a less eye watering price, or have people had any success with cheapy ones and a flylead to earth the base well against the chassis?

Plan is to run it with a DAB splitter so it'll do both FM and DAB in one go...

Cheers

Jon

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I researched for ages, having had the same dilemma as you and finding the same results. In the end I went for a genuine aerial for £30 and the reception is now perfect, having only worked 20% of the time on the old aerial. I don't use car washes so I think I'll be safe 😁

I think a punt on an eBay one is the only non-eye watering option. They looked too cheap for me and I didn't need DAB so the standard aerial has worked out well.

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I use a genuine one and it works well enough.

There’s still something not quite right with the setup though as when the signal is poor (quite often round here) if I turn the wipers on the static gets a lot louder. Dodgy connection allowing interference from the motor to get in somewhere perhaps.

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Had the little rubber thing too, liked the idea of it ie short not likely to get damaged, but it wasn't great!!!

Got this one of ebay £15.ish similar base idea to the little rubber one and still with a flexi section, 80cms in height fiberglass, made in Germany! So far very impressed, reception is for me bang on, used to struggle in some spots out here but not now!

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Why not just  fit an OE one? Still available from LR. Fit the correct part and it will work as designed.

There’s plenty of after market tat to choose from, or you could fit an aerial designed for something else entirely. I spent 20 years fitting car audio/alarms and always fitted OE parts where possible rather than “rubber ducks” or other such items.

Somebody at LR will have spent time making sure the OE one is matched to the vehicle and suitable for use in an off-road environment 

The LR aerial is a good unit and well made, a high gain design plus its harder to snap off than similar aftermarket units and also has a bracket to secure it at the bottom, helping to prevent the wing getting damaged if the aerial gets bent either by vandals or a stray branch.

Having said all that, LR did offer a “rubber duck” alternative on later Defenders, although it’s not as high gain as a fully extended telescopic one. (Reception not so good in marginal areas such as, well, the Sahara Desert) Or in rural Scotland if you want anything other than Radio 2 or radio 4

 

Edited by Lightning
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This is NOT intended to offend!

I have heard this argument many times over the yesrs for various things. Someone highly educated with an arm full of qualifications designed said item! And therefore it would seem we are wasting time and money trying to improve on it!?!

I would suggest that most things are designed to work in a fashion and cost will greatly dictate how well!?!

Whilst the genuine aerial may be good and does the job, i doubt Mr. Land Rover would put something as trivial as an aerial of outstanding quality at a high cost on a Defender!

Plus considering all the other parts that break, snap or fail in a short space of time, i'm not sure how much faith i have in the highly educated and qualified designer!?! He designed it to work, yes, but to a budget. Thus knowingly some of the minor components will be of the minimum standard allowed.

If he was that good surely there would be NO need for QUALITY aftermarket parts??? Of any description!

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Agree with Mutley (an also hopefully not going to upset anyone with my opinion) - Production parts are generally as cheap as the manufacturer thinks they can get away with - look at the maestro parts on early RRCs and Discos for confirmation... So I would think that it is entirely possible that an antenna from a specialist company who rely on reputation could be better than an original part... Of course it could be worse too - which is why we are having this chat and hoping that somebody will say: "I tried this and it's fantastic!" :)

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After I bent the original one while offroading I replaced the aerial on my Defender with a cheap flexible one of about 50cm. I had tilted close against the window and never noticed any loss of reception compared to original.

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