Antennacraft ST2 Scantenna

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trp2525

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If anyone is interested (or in need) I just saw that there is a used ("only one season") Antennacraft ST2 Scantenna up for auction on eBay: Antennacraft ST2 Scanner Antenna | eBay

The price is already getting steep at $227.50 (plus $15 shipping) after 16 bids. There is still currently over 5 days left in the auction. How high will the price go?
 

kf5bti

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Greenbrier, AR
I'd sell mine for half that! The highest bidder has very little feedback, something tells me the seller may be relisting this one soon.
 

Blackink

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Somebody (a company) should step up to the plate and start making these again.

There's a demand for them.....if you build them, they will sell!!!
 

rbm

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And I still have a few new spares still in the boxes! ;)

Which, I wouldn't part with.

I've had 5 of them up for years and the older, weaker model used to last through 2 or 3 bad wind storms.
I've gone through about 15 of them over the last 25 years. Sometimes 3 or 4 per year.

The newer model lasts much longer.
I haven't had to replace one in five years.

It's a shame that they're no longer made.

Rich
 

hamstang

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Charlotte NC
Better than discone

Are they really that good at receiving signals? I don't get it.

In my experience of many years, many scanners and many antennas, the Scantenna was the best all around outdoor scanner antenna. So much better than a discone I think. $280? I think I paid around $40.
 

W8VI

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Batavia, Ohio
The ST-2 is like the Swiss Army Knife of antennas. It's a good general coverage antenna that receives an adequate signal for many scanners. But I've found at my location its no longer the best fit for my monitoring requirements.

12 years ago when my county and adjacent counties Public Safety systems were located on 450 MHz and high VHF, all analog, the ST-2 was all I needed. I'm finding that today I need dedicated antennas along with dedicated scanners for each trunking system to monitor them effectively.

I still have a ST-2 on a 40 ft tower along with a Diamond X-200a and a 15 element yagi cut for 700-800 MHz and all primarily for monitoring.

The x-200a is a 2 meter / 70 Cm vertical that cover roughly 130-150 MHz and 420-480 MHz and easily out performs the ST-2 on those frequencies. Also being 8 ft tall and proclaiming 6 and 8 dB gain - it should do better on those frequencies when searching for weak and distance stations.

The yagi is for monitoring the local 700-800 Mhz simulcast trunking system and when pointed at the strongest tower it helps eliminate most of the simulcast distortion. I also have a small rotor to steer the yagi at other sites. I've found that a small $20, 5 element 800 Mhz yagi will easily outperform the ST-2 on 700-800 MHz.

I do use the ST-2 for some low band VHF like 6 meter beacon monitoring and on the 225-400 Military Air band but in my testing over the years nothing beats a dedicated yagi or collinear antenna measured close to the frequency your trying to monitor.
 

gonefishn1

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Clark County Nevada
Thank you W8VI. That is good to know information. Thank you for sharing. Would you recommend any particular brand for around $20 ? I think a Yagi would work fine for me. I'm just scanning the 800Mhz band.
 

W8VI

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Batavia, Ohio
I have a Yagi similar to this one mounted on a homemade stand on a book shelf in the radio room. It works best for monitoring my local county's 800 MHz P25 simulcast trunking system. Correct antenna positioning is critical for good voice decoding.

https://www.amazon.com/Phonetone-di...8&qid=1467786620&sr=8-1&keywords=800+mhz+yagi


On the tower is a larger 15 dbi Yagi similar to this one. It is used to monitor other 800 MHz trunking systems in 3 adjacent counties.

https://www.amazon.com/zBoost-YX026...UTF8&qid=1467786196&sr=8-10&keywords=800+yagi

I'm using good quality RG6 cable along with quality N adapters and BNC connectors. Most of these Yagi's come with a female N connector.

To get to this configuration I had to do a lot of trial and error mainly because I'm located almost equidistant between 2 strong simulcast towers and the other county I like to monitor is 20 miles away and has 15 simulcast towers!

Your location and what you want to monitor may require a lot of experimenting and changing antennas to get satisfactory results. Be flexible and have fun.
 
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SteveSimpkin

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And it has sold... for $295!
I bought mine about 7 years ago from Radio Shack and it still works great. At the time I bought it, is was the cheapest scanner antenna I could find locally (about $30 IIRC).
 

gonefishn1

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Clark County Nevada
Thanks again W8VI. I appreciate the detailed information on the YAGI's. I will certainly have fun with these. I'm sure they will work great in my location too.
 

MisterLongwire

Amateur radio operator/QC tech for radio mfr.
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Boy....I am contemplating selling my ST2 now considering this sale. Even selling it for 150.00 might tickle my wallet. Might consider that thought. And the fact it is only 8 mos. old even though I didnt keep the box. I can get the antenna down in less than 15 minutes.....thinking about it..........
 

KT4HX

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Spotsylvania County, Va
What in the world? You can still buy these online
.

Where? They are discontinued and I have not found any vendor with them in stock. They do show up in the used market occasionally, but like everyone else here, I would never pay what was paid in that auction. They are a good antenna, but they aren't that kind of good! There is no way I would pay a whole lot more for a used one now than what it would have cost new when they were available. In my view they just aren't worth that kind of inflated price. But apparently a few people feel they are based on the bidding, and the seller is quite the happy camper now.
 

gewecke

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Being raped by fleabay sellers is no deal at all! I have little sympathy for buyers that aren't smart enough to find a beter deal. ST2's are just not worth that kind money. :( 73, n9zas
 

DJ11DLN

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Being raped by fleabay sellers is no deal at all! I have little sympathy for buyers that aren't smart enough to find a beter deal. ST2's are just not worth that kind money. :( 73, n9zas
+1. That is an insane price for a $30 antenna but people had to bid or it would never have gone that high. Caveat Emptor.

They are good wide-spectrum antennas. There's virtually nothing on VHF-Lo within normal range of me though so a Larsen tri-band + radial kit works even better for me, plus it is much less likely to be disassembled by Ma Nature the way my old ST-2 was. And yeah, I got another ST-2 NIB in the basement, which I won't part with either, just in case.:wink:
 
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