Seems like Ford is the only holdout still using a 31" whip antenna on the F250, while Dodge and GM have gone to the Shark Fin type. I was tired of my antenna hitting low branches, breaking Florescent tubes in Parking Garages, or getting bent at the car wash. I ordered a 14" steel whip antenna from Antenna X.com for $20.00.
It is well made, and came with various threaded adaptors one of which fit my 2016 F250 perfectly. Radio reception on FM is excellent, not so good on AM which I hardly ever use. Looks much better to me than that 31", maybe I can use the Stock Antenna For a Fishin Pole...................Lew

 

Yeah, got one for my F150 to replace the 9" Stubby. Much better. I am sticking with OEM on the F350 as I am rural and don't want to diminish reception even a little.
BTW, it is good to remove and use WD-40 every few weeks. When I traded in and tried to put the OEM back, the Antenna-X broke off at the base.

 

Typically the "shark fin" style antenna is just for the GPS and / or Sat Radio, not AM/FM reception. Ford uses the round hockey puck on the roof for this purpose. The radio antenna may be hidden in the windshield or rear glass, or somewhere else.

Yeah, I'd just as soon get rid of it too. And apparently Ford has done so, for the 2017 model year trucks (or 2015+ F-150 trucks).

 

I can tell you that external radio antennas outperform the antennas built into glass by a wide margin. I listen to AM Radio occasionally, and that requires a big antenna. I would put a taller antenna on if I could find one!

These shorty antennas are usually not resonant on the AM bands, so expect reasonably good FM coverage and poor AM coverage.

I am a ham radio operator, so I have other antennas on my truck, and I have come to appreciate a big antenna! It does actually make a big difference!

 

Usually the glass antennas are amplified and I have seen good performance, even AM, with them. Part of it is also the sensitivity of the receiver. You could have a giant antenna mast and a lousy tuner and still get poor radio reception. Personally, I feel very few people listen to AM anymore.

 

Our '03 Expe had no external antenna and no in-the-glass antenna. The little we used the radio it seemed to have good reception but in fairness we listened to discs for the most part.