20 Best Wideband Scanner Antenna (2022 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.

This is a good antenna widely available so really, the trick is to find the best price. I try to avoid swimming in the long river and always check prices. Staples unexpectedly had this specialty item at a significantly lower price.

It was shipped quickly and arrived in perfect condition so I’m happy.

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.

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!.

I learned about this antenna years ago from someone who was into scanner radios. It’s much better than what comes with portable scanners and better than any other after market antenna I’ve tried.

As aftermarket scanner antennas go, this is the best you can buy. If your performance does not improve it’s not an antenna problem, it’s a scanner problem. Used on a RadioShack Pro 97. Ditch the 6″ rubber ducky and get with the RH77CA today.

I’m 100% satisfied with the Diamond RH77CA, and you will be too !.

Perfect replacement for the antenna that comes stock with most handheld scanners. You will get better reception and build quality from the Diamond RH77CA HT antenna.

Did not end up keeping. Looked well made and preliminary preparations for install it seemed to perform as described. We needed to expand the design and system though and I returned this item.

This is my second one. First one went missing in a storm or ?. I live in area where no other booster has worked. We have secured this one down with all the brackets they sent with the replacement and it will no longer be able to blow off roof or be taken, We directed it toward the sky south facing and the reception is excellent in and out of my house.

My house is 900 sq. feet.

We live in a valley so signals are hard to find. We aimed the antenna and we had 4 bars inside the house immediately! We then move the old flat panel inside the house and now have 4 bars everywhere in the house.

When my old antenna got damaged at the auto repair shop, I decided to upgrade to this antenna. My previous antenna was a single band 2-meter antenna and worked very well but I needed a dual band to compliment my new mobile radio.

This is a super antenna. Short enough to be unobtrusive but long enough to provide plenty of gain. I am now able to “hit” our UHF repeater over 30 miles away. VHF performance is equal to or better than the old dedicated 2-meter antenna I previously was using.

I highly recommend the Diamond NR770HBNMO antenna for both VHF and UHF mobile use.

I have two of these. One chrome and this one, black. Both function as 5/8 wave antennas. Plus: For FM this is a “high power” performer. Its wide band and needs no tuning out of the packaging though you can tune it if you want to, I don’t see any reason to do so.

The instructions are clear its pretuned at the factory and recommends leaving it there. Its got extremely good gain on receive, and on transmit it gets your signal out there. SWR’s are very close to 1:1:1 – 1:5:1 on most frequencies, only noticed an anomaly at the high end of Amateur 70cm band where it exceeded 1.

5:1 a tad. Works well with a mag mount with no discernible difference in SWR’s. Am switching between magmount and lip mount. I’m going to guess that the base of the antenna isn’t so much a loading coil as it is a matching network to achieve the kind of results you get.

I’d hate to throw money away to tear one apart to see what’s inside, so I’ll stick with guesswork. Drawbacks: Its about almost 4 feet tall so it rides on the trunk rather than on the roof. That affects the transmission pattern.

Using an Signal Strength meter around the periphery of the vehicle at VHF the pattern is more signal going out from the trunk rearward than forward. So if you want to point signal North you have your hood pointed South, At 70cm it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference due to the nature of UHF.

Some hams buy the PL-259 style mount to use it with a separate ground plane kit as a base antenna.

I like this antenna! I use a mag mount on top of the car roof, and previously had a Larsen 2/70 dual band antenna there. This Diamond antenna does not require a ground plane, so it seems to work much better using the mag mount.

I am very happy with the noticeable improvement in signal strength in poor reception areas. It’s a bit pricy, but in comparison to others, not too high, and for its performance it is highly recommended!.

The Omni that came with the booster only worked if I was holding my phone against the inside receiver. Using the ap showing the cell tower directions wasn’t the best either. We put it the Yagi up on the chimney and kept turning it until we got the best signal.

Now I get three bars in my living room when I was lucky to have one before. I was hoping to ditch my land line but don’t have the confidence to do that.

I bought the booster about a month ago and installed it and an external antenna today. Guess I should say I live out in the middle of nowhere, BFE. Before I installed the booster and antenna we had to stand outside our house to make a phone call.

We now have LTE reception in the farthest point in our house from the booster. I feel like I am part on civilization again. I should also mention the tech I spoke to at weboost/Wilson Electronics was unbelievable helpful.

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.

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.

Really is a necessary upgrade to short rubber duck antenna that comes stock on HT. Solid improvement on receive/transmit. DX Engineering has captured me as a customer! Delivery was super quick, well packaged! Saving some money now for my next order!.

Got this antenna for my FT 65, works really well, now have clear audio from reoeaters that were marginal at best with the OEM antenna. The base of this antenna needs a rubber gasket at the base on the FT65.

One rubber washer is provided, but could be a little thicker for a snug fit, otherwise would give 5 stars.

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 got this antenna to replace the stock one that came with my Uniden BC75XLT. I mainly use it for listening to railroad communications. It is a definite improvement over the stock rubber duckie. Even when used inside a vehicle the reception is clearer and I get more range.

The antenna is long so it may be distracting if you like to carry it on your belt or a shoulder strap but I don’t use it that way so it is inconsequential to me. The increase in clarity and range more than make up for its long length.

Pull the trigger and buy this antenna if you need a great railroad scanner antenna.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Although I wish the old Antenna Specialist Company was still around (they made some of the best antenna products). As a ham I have been using Larsen antennas for decades. They are a no buyers remorse product.

They are known to be used commercially (Police, Fire, EMS, Taxi, Public Works etc. ). Rarely do you see Comet, Diamond, and other known amateur radio antenna products used in rugged environments. I got a new vehicle and knew I had to poke another hole in the roof so I just bought another Larsen NMO 2/70B.

If you have a less than optimal installation location such as below roof line, this 1/2 wave antenna is the one to get. Even mounted low, the SWR is 1:1 – 1. 3:1 across the 2 meter band. Highly unusual but the numbers don’t lie.

70cm is slightly higher but not enough to justify adjustment. Also works quite well on receive on the air band when nothing else is going on. Highly recommend for no ground plane installations.

Very good gain, and the whip is tough as nails. I have one on my motorcycle, and I’ve never had trouble with it, even after dropping the bike, which bent the whip 45 degrees. I took it out of the base coil, bent it straight, put it back in and kept on going, no problem.

Put some Loctite on the screws that secure the whip in the base coil. They can vibrate loose, I found.

This antenna does what its intended to do. That is: its a 19. 5 inch, wave, dual band mag mount mobile antenna that hits repeaters on both vhf and uhf within reasonable distances (20-30 miles depending on terrain) extremely well.

The magnet is 3 in diameter and is very strong, able to easily withstand high freeway speeds. Its well built and sturdy, and will stand up to rubbing against some lower lying branches and moderate grazing of an overhead garage door.

At the price, its a real bargain, and will perform at least as well, and usually better, than anything else in this category. It has a 12 foot pl-259 coax cable, so, depending on the size of your vehicle, you may need a 3 foot extender to place it correctly on the vehicle roof.

Recommended.

I just ordered a second Tram 1185 from TexComm. For a small 13 antenna with a 3 1/2 inch mag mount, this antenna does some amazing work with my Anytone AT5888 UVIII Tri-band mobile transceiver in my Jeep.

Now Im able to drive into underground parking structures without having to take my antenna down to prevent damage, just mount it towards the rear of roof. Ive tried many antennas but this one by far does the best work on 2 meters, 220 mhz and 70cm, especially in rough terrain in the Hawaiian Islands.

Yes, its about $30 bucks but well worth every penny. Todd de WH6DWF.

This is a GREAT! Antenna for the price. I work out in the middle of no where where cell service is no where to be seen. This antenna has gotten me linked up and talking with people when I need it. Built very well, the antenna vertical portion is made very well will not bounce or swing in the wind, magnet portion is very strong, coax is nice and thick.

This is not by any means made cheap at all, this thing is made for the long haul. Tram did a great job with this design, it is more of a medium size antenna when fully mounted up right. I have it hooked to a ICOM IC-2000 and running 50 watts this antenna does wonders, SWR is low 1:1 to 1:2 sometimes really never seen it go any higher than that.

Great antenna buy one you will love it.

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.

best quality for the money, works as well or better on digital scanners than more expensive antenna that promise better reception