Scanner Antennas

The aerial stocked here is a discone, the wideband pattern used for scanner listening at a base. It is mast mounted, with a ring of radials that keeps coverage broad rather than tuning it to one band. Before ordering, check the mast you already have, the socket on your scanner, and the clear space around the mounting point for the radials.

  • Coverage: the Scanking Royal Discone 2000 receives from 25 to 2000 MHz, and also transmits on 50-52, 144-146, 430-440, 900-986 and 1240-1325 MHz.
  • Connection: N-type, so plan your feeder and any adaptor to suit the socket on your scanner.
  • Size and fixing: 155cm long, fits masts up to 50mm, with 8 x 83cm and 8 x 29cm radials.
  • Gain: 4.5dBi over a standard discone.

Showing the single result

Which scanner aerial suits you, and can a discone antenna transmit as well as listen?

The figure to read first is the gain. The Scanking Royal Discone 2000 is quoted at 4.5 dBi over a standard discone, which is a modest edge across a wide span rather than the peak you would get from a high gain scanner antenna cut for one band. Its receive range runs from 25 to 2000 MHz, so the trade is deliberate: all round coverage matters more here than gain on any single frequency.

The second question decides the installation. Unlike most discones, this one, a Moonraker product suited to a fixed base, also transmits on the 6m, 2m, 70cm and 23cm bands, so a single mast can serve both a scanner and a multiband transceiver rather than carrying two aerials.

BandFrequenciesTransmit
Full receive span25 to 2000 MHzReceive only
6m50 to 52 MHzYes
2m144 to 146 MHzYes
70cm430 to 440 MHzYes
Listed without a band name900 to 986 MHzYes
23cm1240 to 1325 MHzYes

Three published figures decide whether it will physically go where you want it.

  • Mast diameter. It mounts on a vertical mast of up to 50 mm, so the pole or bracket you already own has to come in under that, not merely close to it.
  • Length and radials. The aerial is 155 cm long and carries 8 x 83 cm and 8 x 29 cm radials, which is the real footprint to plan for, not the 155 cm alone.
  • Feedpoint. The connection is N-type, so the coaxial cable needs an N plug at the aerial end.

The check most often got wrong: the plug on the cable. A listener who never transmits still has to terminate the feeder in N-type, and a cable made up for something else will not mate with this feedpoint. If you do intend to transmit, check the SWR on each band with a meter once the aerial sits in its final position, band by band, rather than reading it once and assuming the rest follow.