Proper Scanner Antenna - Help me Decide

simoneb · #1 (**permalink**) 10-09-2012, 8:31 PM

I'm considering the following two antennas:

Antennacraft ST2

Antennacraft ST4 Omni

Of the two, which is more useful? Is there something else I should consider instead? I've read the ST2 is better than a discone. I'm not terribly interested in local police, emergency, etc - more into air and some ham bands. I'd like to do some WEFAX/APT in the future as well.

I've no clue, so please suggest.

Thanks for your time.

Rt169Radio · #2 (**permalink**) 10-10-2012, 8:15 AM

Well of the two antennas you listed, I would go with the AntennaCraft ST2. It is not made as well as the discone, but it receives quite good.

benbenrf · #3 (**permalink**) 10-13-2012, 4:07 AM

What HAM bands interest you - you see, the antenna you have your eyes on while it does have a very broad bandwidth has been designed for coverage right up to 1.3Ghz, though if you can get hold of a Gain/Freq graph you'll see it doesn't actually work well at all over that whole bandwidth.

Depending on the HAM bands that interest you i.e. low down versus high up bands, you should be able to get an antenna that is more resonant for say, 30Mhz - 500Mhz, 30Mhz - 300Mhz (which includes the air-band freqs) - and that is likely to work a whole load better than the ST2.

vagrant · #4 (**permalink**) 10-13-2012, 5:24 PM

I have both. I have found the ST2 to perform (receive) better than the discone, especially at the lower end. I purchased mine through Solid Signal for $35. It came with the 75 to 50 ohm adapter and 50' of coax. I would purchase it again, and probably will for my camping trailer.

I should note that that I compared the two antennas simultaneously. Both are 35' AGL. I used different radios and the Scantenna 2 always won. Even just last night I was picking up a weak signal, and compared them again. Another helper I use is a Combination Notch/High pass filter - HPN-30118. I have FM and AM BCB killing me at my location. With this filter I now hear transmissions I previously did not.

benbenrf · #5 (**permalink**) 10-15-2012, 4:06 PM

....... you've done the right thing: I'd be inclined to think no small part of the performance you enjoy is down to the consideration you've given to filtering your input ....... as important as antennas, but nearly always given little to no consideration. Correct receive filtering setup often makes a huge diff to received & demodulated signal quality. 3dB - 6dB improvement in received SNR almost always gives far more benefit than any increase in antenna gain.