I been reading your forums on these antennas. I heard the ST2 is a good antenna but not good in high wind. The price is alot cheaper than the Discone, meaning Discone is a better product. I love the Discone because of it omni-directional and great reception, but pricey. Dont want to sound like a penny pincher, just watching the dollars as I like to buy 2 antennas. Scanner Master has the WBD-40 Discone for about $100.00. Anyone know where I can buy one cheaper online? What are your thoughts?
Discone vs ST2 Antenna
- Thread starter nearscanman
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I have both. First a disclaimer, I have a RS discone. On my pro 106 neither impressed me due to overload. Now on my BCT15 the ST2 blows the RS discone away across the bands. The ST2 is not very directional at all and picks up all county's around me just fine. The RS discone does OK,but the ST2 pulls signals in from further away. I really notice the difference in the airband. I am about 30 miles from GSP airport and quite often I can get ground ops on the ST2 but not on the discone. Both are 30 feet up and I have a direct line of site to GSP being on a hill about 800 feet higher than the airport.
If you get the ST2 antenna it would be good to do what this link suggest's.
http://wiki.radioreference.com/images/8/8c/Reinforcescantenna.jpg
The Diamond D-130J discone antenna is a good strong antenna.
Diamond D-130J D-130NJ Discone Antenna
http://wiki.radioreference.com/images/8/8c/Reinforcescantenna.jpg
The Diamond D-130J discone antenna is a good strong antenna.
Diamond D-130J D-130NJ Discone Antenna
freqs
Member
the newer ST2 fixed the issue of having to reinforce them .I have had mine up 3 years no issue
Thanks guys! Think I have my mind made up and going with the ST2! What bother me with the Discone is scanner/ham antenna. I dont know if that has a affect on the recieving end of the antenna. Right now I have the ScanAntenna and its running 3 scanner, which I can tell that its not working right. Sometimes one scanner has more strength than the other. So its time to go with 2!!!
K7CAR
Member
I've had the ST-2 ($30) up about 2 years along side a RS discone at 40 ft. and the ST-2 runs circles around the discone on all frequencies. Favoring the ST-2 much more in the lower VHF frequencies, but holding it's own up through 900 mhz. I've run multiple scanning runs testing both antennas with ProScan and haven't found an instant where the discone out performs the ST-2.
I've had no issues with the ST-2 holding up in wind storms. Max winds have been in the 50 mph range. If I had icing problems I might have some concerns. The ST-2 isn't much more than cheap tv type tubing and won't hold up to heavy ice/snow loads. If that's not a concern or you can attic mount the ST-2 then it's the best bang for the buck out there for scanning antennas IMHO.
I've had no issues with the ST-2 holding up in wind storms. Max winds have been in the 50 mph range. If I had icing problems I might have some concerns. The ST-2 isn't much more than cheap tv type tubing and won't hold up to heavy ice/snow loads. If that's not a concern or you can attic mount the ST-2 then it's the best bang for the buck out there for scanning antennas IMHO.
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