[Radio Wrangler]

A ferrite rod antenna winding looks inductive, and is brought to resonance with a section of a variable capacitor. In many radios this is used as the RF selectivity ahead of the self-oscillating mixer. The oscillator coil gets the other section of a 2-gang tuning capacitor.

So ferrite rods are usually configured as part of a resonator, and they also act as an antenna, a transducer of energy between electrical current form and EM field form.

So the answer is yes, both of the above.

There is an ironic compromise that for the best Q for the best brownie points as an RF filter, it would have to be shielded from the electromagnetic environment to contain losses. This of course ruins its functionality as an antenna. For best antenna function, it should couple as strongly as possible to the universe around it.

Fortunately this can be compromised to yield a functional radio, as testified by the countless millions that have been made.

David