20 Best Scanner Antenna For Home (2023 Updated)

I was really happy with the quality of this Tram 1410 ant. well built out of stainless steel and the main hub looks to be maybe brass or bronze that has been very heavy chrome plated, I used a dab of dielectric grease when I assembled it, it was larger than I thought that it was going to be and I had to pick it up from the post office because it would not fit in the mail box.

it is roughly 3 foot high and about 3 foot wide at the base, I installed all of the arms finger tight and then used a small wrench 9/32 the gently tighten the small lock nuts, I then installed the antenna on a 10 ft.

high piece of 1-1/8 PVC pipe and locked down the 2 allen head screws that hold it to the pipe, I needed 100 ft. of low loss cable to reach my scanner now I am just waiting for my UHF to BNC adapter to get here from China so that I can hook it up and see how well it brings in a signal.

so far I am very pleased with the 1410 Tram. very well built!. I will write back to this review after I have tried it.

After years of making discone antennas from various plumbing parts and brass brazing rods, I decided to try the Tram antenna based on what I have read and the pictures I have seen of the quality assembly the Tram antenna has.

Because, once this antenna is installed, I will not want to be endlessly climbing up on a second story metal roof to service it after a wind storm or bird landing! The fact that the Tram antenna uses stainless steel rods, nuts and hub assembly means no corrosion with good strength, and was a very big factor in choosing the Tram antenna over other name brand antennas, especially the antennas that use fewer rods, or poorer quality materials.

While my home brew antennas worked very well, the rods would end up breaking from the wind or occasional large bird landing on it. I decided that due to age and other health issues, I do not want to keep climbing if I can avoid it!.

Quality is very good and this makes it an excellent value. (E-Bay $37. 00 free shipping) I have several dis-cone antennas and this makes for a perfect attic antenna to compliment my multiple scanners.

V/UHF reception is on par with my Diamond dis-cones. This antenna does not have the low band coverage nor the capability to easily add a vertical whip, yet HF-MW reception is fair. So. it’s not designed for low band! Overall a super value and easy to assemble.

Typically this antenna sells for approx $50 so if you can find it for less, you can’t build a dis-cone cheaper considering it’s made using stainless steel elements.

If you use all the rods, it is a great scanner antenna. I modified mine to 1/4 wave ground plane. Works great for TX as well as RX. Saved the additional rods, for other projects. It does come with some CB adjustable nodes.

I do not use CB so in the spare radio box they go for someone in the future.

My issue is how the antenna package arrived. The triangular shaped cardboard box was broken and folded back on itself. The antenna appears not to have been damaged. The antenna assembled easily with no issue.

I have not yet tested the antenna connected to my radio, therefore I can only give a preliminary review. After connecting the antenna to my radio, I will update this review.

I mounted this antenna about 10 days ago about 14 feet off the ground. I had no idea what I was missing! My Whistler scanner was getting stuff from 25 miles away with the antenna that came with it and I was happy.

This discone antenna has at least doubled the distance plus picks up frequencies the back-of-the-set telescopic antenna did not. It looks delicate but I dropped it to the ground when mounting it in the wind ( I should have waited ) and nothing bent or broke.

I’m very impressed. I didn’t get it to transmit CB so I can’t comment on that. But clearly receiving signals 50 miles away with being only 14 feet up is great. I can’t wait to get it on my roof!.

This little antenna really receives! I use it with a Uniden BCD436HP and its receiving much better than the rubber duck antenna. Doesnt look bad mounted on a vehicle, just looks like a cell phone antenna.

Im receiving stations that Im already familiar with but at much greater distances than before. Before I had to be much closer to those stations but I can pull them out now from much further out so they come in really clear the closer I get to them.

Its still new so I dont know how well it will hold up over time but so far so good. At this price if I can get a few years out of it Ill be happy then Ill just replace it as needed.

This antenna is small and easy to install. Magnet really grips the car roof well. My only issue with it is when I have my scanner connected to it in my car the scanner keeps stopping and holding on one particular channel and I have to keep pushing the scan button on the scanner.

When I take this antenna off the scanner and install the original antenna the scanner scans all channels as it should.

This is a perfect scanner antenna, it’s very low profile compared to most that I have seen or used. The magnet is very strong as well. I use one on my car that is hooked up to a portable police BNC type scanner, it picks up everything! My resent purchase of the same antenna is being used for my new Uniden portable scanner that I use in my apartment, once again, the TRAM antenna has come through like a champ!.

Put this on my Uniden BC365CRS desktop scanner. BNC connection fits great. Very tight. Very clear reception. Picking up everything. Rare to find a good antenna that actually performs. Also, I believe this was half the price Amazon charges.

Excellent replacement antenna for our scanner. Ordered and was at our door lightning fast! Very impressed and it was easy to install.

Very good product. Arrived quickly. Packaged well. Works without any problems.

I bought this scanner after believing that my Uniden BC780XLT had lost sensitivity on VHF high band. This scanner exhibits the same problem. on an outdoor antenna. I currently have it on a dual band ham mobile antenna in the shack and it works fine.

Apparently the problem is RF overloading from 96. 9 Bob FM, located about three air miles away. I have purchased a FM broadcast attenuator and will see how it works. Now, Whistler has its own buzzwords for the programming.

“Object scanning” equals “channels” while “scan lists” equals “channel banks”. Once you get past this programming it via computer is straightforward. It’s also advertised as “digital” but is unable to decode amateur radio DMR let alone anything else.

I’ve also programmed two trunking systems into it but haven’t been able to get it to scan them. Perhaps in time I’ll figure that out. One feature I’d buy is the ability to silence the tones used to call out fire and EMS departments.

I only want to hear the voice, not the obnoxiously loud tones. Strictly speaking of its performance, other than its susceptibility to FM broadcast overloading (I could hear the static being modulated in time with the music on 96.

9) its performance is excellent.

I was used to an analog police scanner up to this point. But when my older scanner finally stopped working and I decided on this model scanner after much comparing. This scanner is a digital. It is a nice scanner.

but beware. if you aren’t used to this type of police scanner just know that programming it was much harder to figure out then the analog. Infact, I took mine to Radio Shack and they did it for me. lol.

While I am an Extra Class ham radio opperator, I have only recently delved into the world of scanners. My first scanner was the Whistler WS 1065. While it is a good scanner, it did not allow me to hear the NXDN transmissions of my local munisipality, DMR transmissions, nor P-25 Phase 2.

I kept the WS 1065 but purchased the TRX-2 to fill in those gaps. It is expensive! However, that is my only complaint to date. This scanner was easy for me to understand and program. I highly recomend it.

but you should plan on an outside antenna if you live where you can have one. You’ll get much better results!.

The Shakespeare 5104 4′ Centennial VHF Antenna is elegant and practical. The cable is hard wired to the antenna, but there’s some work (soldering) involved to attach the PL-259 connector (included) to the cable.

I purchased a PL-259-CP-G connector to avoid soldering. My mechanic preferred soldering because the connection is cleaner and it works like a charm. Good value, just need to get over the PL connector challenge.

Bought this antenna to replace an 8ft one that I busted on a low bridge. It works great and while the range isn’t as good as the 8ft obviously I can still get 2-3 miles non line of sight with it and the low output setting on a standard horizon marine radio (the guy I bought the boat from used it on the great lakes, I use it on the mississippi river so we’re never that far from a marina/land/other boats).

\ The only pitfall is the connector isn’t attached (while aggravating its a good thing because you can fish the antenna wire through much smaller openings in your boat). I used a Shakespeare PL-259-CP-G Marine Center Pin Connector which only requires a pair of pliers to crimp onto the cable end rather than the enclosed one which requires cable stripping, soldering etc.

Overall works great and would purchase again.

I bought this antenna for use with a West Marine UHF/VHF Marine radio as my boat was not equipped with a radio. I was amazed at the quality of the antenna It looked great right out of the shipping tube.

The directions were very explicit and it was easy to assemble and attach to the radio. It is light weight and at the same time durable. I expect to have satisfactory performance and reception for a long time.

A quality product I would recommend to anyone needing good ship to ship and ship to shore. communications. Len Sciuto.

I think this is the best choice for the person who wants a wide band antenna but doesnt want to run coax outside the vehicle. The Tram1199 is made of substantial materials and gives you 14 ft of cable.

I think it will hold up over the long haul. I was skeptical about coverage until I plugged it in and then I was very pleased. Ive already ordered a second one just to have in reserve!!.

I put this on a 12 jetta tdi back window, i scraped off an inch of the defroster grid lines to have a perfect coupling, then reconnected and rerouted the circuit over the top of the coupling box inside with a conductive pen using a straight edge.

Seems to be working terrific! All local stuff within 5 miles is full five bars on the digital readout. P. S. In case anybodys going crazy trying to find out, the 12 vw jetta tdi, does NOT have passivated glass.

Goidluck.

on my 2010 F150 the reception is terrible. My portable scanner with a rubber ducky was picking up transmissions and this wouldn’t. It won’t pick up a strong transmissin from only a mile away. It is well built, but not a good value when it doesn’t work.

Works well on VHF low band (30-54 MHz) and receiving the 11 meter CB band (26-28 MHz). There’s only a few users of the 30-50 MHz band in my area but I was able to listen to construction companies using 30.

580 MHz and paving contractors using 43 MHz band frequencies using the 1094-BNC. Tests on the VHF airband, VHF high band and UHF bands indicate excellent performance. Works very well on VHF high band 137-174 MHz).

Testing done with a Pro-2052, Pro-2050, Pro-96, Pro-2006, Pro-135, Pro-79, Pro-82, Pro-83, Pro-89, Pro-94, Pro-95, Pro-135, Pro-404, Pro-649, GRE PSR-100, GRE PSR-500, and Whistler WS1010 (which is the same as the PSR-100, RadioShack Pro-404 and RadioShack Pro-649).

Mobile testing was done with a Pro-2067 scanner and a Pro-163 scanner as well as the handhelds mentioned. Overall this is recommended, especially for mobile scanning purposes.

I have three Tram 1094-BNC antennas. Im using two for scanners, while using the third for SDR. These work great for receiving: 136-174, 430-520, 800, 900 MHz frequencies. Im receiving amateur repeaters, public safety, NOAA, GMRS, business, etc.

While slightly outside the receive band of this antenna, Im also receiving the airband fine. The base of this antenna is a heavy magnet. Putting the antenna on a solid metal ground plane counterpoise such as a baking sheet will even improve its performance more.

Good, solid, antenna.

The reception is good, and you can cruise 75MPH down the highway with no problem. But, if I get on a slightly bumpy road it falls off of the roof of my truck. The little mini antennas hold on better.

It also stands out a lot being fairly large. Works great on the metal roof of a house, long coax that looks like good quality.

Purchased to replace an old Radio Shack glass mount scanner antenna. Using mostly for VHF Hi and Lo band reception and it works well for a glass mount. Good price, good antenna.

I bought this model several years ago. There is a usb cable available that can be used on a laptop with radio reference to quickly and easily program to local frequencies. It will also automatically capture frequencies in range of your location.

I would highly recommend upgrading the antenna for best performance. I have nothing negative to say about this particular radio as it does exactly what its supposed and has additional features you didnt know you need (until you use them).

Overall, this is a very good scanner. It is not a simple device like the ones from a long time ago – there is a definite learning curve. One of the reasons that it lost a star is that the user manual is terrible.

Be prepared to look online for better sources of documentation. The other reason for losing a star is the included cable for connecting to a computer. This is 2018, not 1998, the vast majority of computers do not have db-9 serial ports.

Most people who want to use the feature will have to get a USB to serial adapter. One other thing to note, when it is first powered on, the “Bear Tracker Alert” tone may be set to the highest volume, which is not controlled by the volume knob.

Be prepared to be startled. Search youtube for “BCT15X Start Up” for info on fixing this.

Very nice scanner but extremely confusing to program and operate. I have a Realistic 800 mhz trucking scanner that is simple to program with the manual. I didn’t have a manual with this purchase but I downloaded it online.

Waste of time, youtube was more informative than the actual manual. It puts in talk group codes on its own, even though you didn’t program them in.

Programmed easily. I had previous experience with this brand and had frequencies all ready for input so it was up and scanning those within a few minutes. I have more channels available so will add additional channels later.

Fm reception works well. Have not tried weather band since i have a weather radio.

I was reading the reviews. The radios work – but won’t pick up most emergency services because they all switch to digital ,” mode ” and much higher frequency’s than this covers. You’ll be able to get weather , some ham radio – but nothing to exciting on analog any more.

I’m surprised analog radios sold anymore. If digital scanners were offered – tho more expensive sometimes – they would sell my h better.

I purchased one of the Diamond Dual-Band HT Antennas SRH77CA last year for one of my three HT transceivers. Just on a whim I placed it on my Kenwood TH-D74A to see if I could see any improvement in performance.

I use a OpenSpot2 for a DStar hotspot and like to run the D74A on EL power to conserve the battery while transmitting. I was amazed at the performance improvement with both send & receive! Where I was only receiving at 50% in different places on my property, deck and rooms furthest away, NOW it’s pegging the meter at 100% for both.

Also, I’ve noticed the ability to hit repeaters on 2m and 70cm, full quiet as the stock antenna was unable to accomplish this. It’s tall and maybe not for everyone wanting aesthetics but I purchase a radio for performance and this antenna has helped me in a HUGE way! 73’s K5HSV.

Replaced the rubber-duck antenna that came with my Alinco DJ-G7 and what a difference! With the old duck I was scratchy getting into the local repeater. Now I can get in no problem PLUS am able to get into repeater 20 and 30 miles away from my back yard.

This is an excellent mobile scanner antenna. It could be used as a base antenna as well, of course. I use it with a Uniden BC-125AT and within the frequency range of that receiver, performance has been outstanding.

It’s very well made, and has a substantial magnet. Anyone looking for a scanner antenna for VHF air frequencies, Railroads, 2M/70CM Amateur Radio, or VHF/UHF Police-Fire-EMS, would be hard pressed to find a better antenna.

Especially considering the price. I have not used this antenna for digital communications or above 500Mhz so I can’t comment in that regard.

Used this Tram 1094-BNC magnet mount antenna on sedan top and reception is impressive as my signal to noise is the best. I don’t even have to adjust the squelch on my BC350A Bearcat Uniden scanner background is so quite.

Pick’s up everything and I’m real impressed with the outcome of this scanner and antenna combo. For the money invested I’m sure to have years of to enjoy this setup. This is the scanner antenna you need on your vehicle to do it right the first time out of the box.

Don’t settle for anything cheaper.

It is very durable and well made. Would definitely recommend. Would be nice if there were some sort of instructions to put the antenna together.

Mine arrived without the mounting bracket but I didn’t need it anyway. Seems to work fine.

I used the permanent mount configuration. Looks good, professional.

Have bought my share of scanner antennas, this is by far the best! Works like a charm!

Purchased this to use with old crystal Robyn scanner. Can’t necessarily explain why, but seems to work better than the stock antenna ! Some fitting may be required as Motorola female plugs may need tweaking to hold male plug firmly.

I simply added a piece of tape around the insulator, to take up slack in the jack.

I have a Bearcat scanner and the antenna came in the mail, It didn’t fit very well, (lose) so I put tape around the base, (one and a half times) and it fit very nice after that. Antenna is a good product and made well.

this antenna does not work well because it does not fit tight enough to keep it up. especially if you extend the length of the antenna. I also found it hard the get the smaller part of the antenna to fit into the smaller inside hole of the receptacle on one of my scanners.

I will not buy another one.

real replacement antenna for uniden scanners with BNC connector

This antenna is amazing…it can receive in over 20 languages !!!

Bought it to replace my old one this one is horrible it dont pick up most of bands

This is a nice antenna, and a big performance improvement over the rubber duck antenna that came on my old HT. I have tested several antennas, and on both ends of the conversation this antenna produced much better signal and quieting than the rubber duck.

Of course, it does not perform as well as a base antenna mounted high in the air, nor even as well as a good car antenna, but it is a lot more convenient to use than either of those. The antenna feels very good.

It has a nice amount of bend, and it is a lot less “pokey” than some other extended HT antennas I’ve used.

Is ideal as a replacement in powered speakers with wireless receiver, or any wireless system. BNC can be removed to screw fit to various radios that have a telescopic aerial. Not as sturdy as original but woks perfectly.

Standard BNC connector with tilt over joint. Over 1.1 metres long. Excellent for my Yupiteru or any scanner that uses a bnc connector. Nice and cheap.

This is a BNC connector ,that has given my scanner radio/aircraft signal a far better range . it’s good value and well made too

This item is working great on my HomePatrol 2 scanner. I’m receiving traffic not heard previously with the stock “rubber duck” antenna. The antenna is well-constructed and seems to be durable. I’d highly recommend it! By the way, you won’t find a better antenna for the price!.

Replaced missing antenna on expensive Gov’t radio. Correct frequency tune. Saved $$$. Info turned over to state radio master. Clerking error lost loose radio parts in storage. Factory part is very expensive and on long delay order.

Read all the reviews and ordered the recommended brand antenna. It works very well picking up far more signals than the stock antenna.