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Customers most agreed on the following attributes:
from Lansdowne, PA on 10/13/2008
I bought this antenna when my Pro 97 began to have reception problems which I thought may have been related to the stock duck. While the problems turned out to be a loose connector inside the radio, once it was fixed I began to use this antenna and I can say it works very well! The stock rubber duck had trouble picking up the low band fire/EMS dispatch frequency for my county for most transmissions broadcasted off of towers other than the one closest to me. With this antenna I can get dispatches for the whole county when fully extended (even if the reception isn't the clearest on the ones not coming from the tower closest to me). It has also made reception on other VHF Low and High Band channels better and allowed me to pick up distant signals during band openings.
On the downside though, this antenna does have poor construction. While it held up good at first, once I started using it in portable mode, it started to bend and kink. Eventually it broke and while I did manage to fix it somewhat, it can no longer stay fully extended and I can not fully retract it either without using force.
My bottom line on this product is it is good for indoor and stationary outdoor use but when using it while in motion, you should either fully retract it or switch to a rubber duck antenna.
from Houston, TX and San Diego, CA on 8/19/2008
The thing is old school and lanky looking. You got to be very careful not to bend or kink the antenna. Stretches too long and its very flimsy metal. The connector's inner pin got loose on the solder after a few weeks. Not for the rugged daily use or outdoorsman.
The antenna is absolutely excellent,Little Bit flimsy,Good All Around Antenna.
Gets a much better signal than the stock rubber duck antennas that come with scanners. I like that it can be tuned to specific frequencies. The buying point for me was that it could also be used to transmit. It is a bit fragile, though. It's not an action antenna, but it should be fine for gentle use with a little common sense.
from Schuylkill County, PA. on 4/29/2008
This is a very good receiving antenna. I use it on my PSR-100 and my Pro-82 handheld scanners and when fully extended it pulls in signals 50+ miles away very clear. 10 times better than the stock rubber duck antenna. It is more fragile as it is telescoping, but this thing pulls in signals like crazy. I live in a very hilly country area and this antenna is perfect for my needs.
from Grandville, MI on 1/18/2008
Though a tad large and cumbersome, this antenna has really improved my searching of the air traffic band. I've received Ground control transmissions from airports as far as 25 miles away. Even faint airport TIS transmissions are heard clearer. I've also picked up transmissions from fire, police, public safety as far as 50 miles away. This is a great product.
from Blair,Nebraska. on 12/31/2007
This is the best Telescopic Scanner Antenna I have ever bought. It preforms very well. I have Two of these Antenna's. One on my Pro-42 and one my Pro-96 Scanner's. These Antenna have way over done the Rubber Duck Antenna's. Monitoring the Rail band with these Antenna's is AWESOME!
from Gallipolis,Ohio on 12/6/2007
Vary good better then the rubber one that comes with my scanner picks up weather stations 50 miles away and vary clear
i bought this antenna specifically for the distant 42mhz freqs in my area, it proved to be completely useless for that purpose, the nearby low band channels i strugged with before are now crystal clear, and the scratchy sounding vhf channels are perfect now as well, i couldnt really test the uhf part since the uhf freqs i monitor are right here in my hometown, so they're crystal clear no matter whatit seems VERY breakable, but its only [$] you get what you pay for
Great reception, However it breaks too easy if you trip and fall on it while it is fully extended.
best anttena i ever bought i do alot of radio work and i have been able to get signals from 20 mile away
Used on our VHF radios,performed very well, pulled in good signals. We need outstanding performance to perform our testing on aircraft. Will buy 5 more.
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Bought this antenna for my Pro-97 based upon reviews that were several years old. Appears the construction of this antenna has changed. Antenna is now horrible. Instructions for extension lengths for specific frequencies were completely wrong and inaccurate compared to what was required to actually tune a specific frequency, construction was cheap and shoddy at best, reception is WORSE than the stock antenna that comes with the Pro-97 for all frequencies above ~150 Mhz.
Purchased my antenna several years ago and it is still pulling in distant signals. One of RShack's better products.
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
This antenna performed no better than the stock antenna that came with my Pro-92. I tested in all frequency ranges.
I bought 4 of these antennas and they all broke in 2 months. They don't do well on the VHF / UHF ham bands.
i have bought this antenna and used it for my pro 94 handheld scanner since the scanner was made for a "rubber ducky" when the antenna is on it will wiggle about a millimeter from side to side. that caused the metal entering the scanner to get weak and eventually crack. mine has lasted about 3 months and the poin mfinally fell off
from Elkhorn City, KY on 11/8/2006
I bought this for a Bearcat BCD 396T handheld digital scanner and you might as well throw away the rubber antenna that comes with it and buy one of these. I've had it for about 3 months now and it still amazes me how well it picks up.
A waste of money! I got this for VHF High freq's on a Pro-96 scanner. It isn't any better than the 800 MHz (model 20-283) that I use regularly. It may be better for CB or other lower frequencies.
I use this on a pro 83 handheld and is worse than my rubber duck antenna on all the frequencies.I prefer the rubber handheld antenna for 20 dollars. It is way better.Im using it now. Dont waste your money on this.
Am using on a Pro 2027 - 100 channel base scanner. It is attached to a suction cup antenna adapter from RS and mounted on the inside of a bedroom window. Increased reception and clarity. The antenna is a good value for the price.!
This is the best handheld scanner antenna I have ever had. It is a bit large when fully extended, but the reception is great. I also use one on my handheld CB and have increased my transmit and receive range over several miles in hilly terrain. I've had two of these for several years in not so great conditions and have never broken one yet.
I don't care what the other reviews say It's the best antenna out there for the price. I can here transmissions 300 miles away!
This antenna made the difference between no reception and a solid signal for me. The frequency of interest was in low band - really low band: 37.100Mc. The rubber duck antenna that came with the scanner produced no signal. With this antenna the signal was great.
Worst antenna I have ever owned. I bought 4 and they all broke. IT'S A BAD IDEA TO HAVE A PLASTIC CONNECTOR HOLDING UP AN ANTENNA! I could not hear much on it and it has a high SWR on some of the ham radio bands.
I have used this antenna on all three of my portables. Pro,95,Pro96 and Pro97...It's a great antenna but a pain to remove and I have nearly broken the thing off just to get it of my radio's
ok airband reception, breaks easy, been through two already.
[0 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
Poor to no reception, regardless of how it was extended(as indicated in the manual). The rubber antenna that came with my radio works far better. For example, say I'm recieving a signal on channel 17 with the stock antenna, and I'm getting 2-3 bars on the reception bar. When I install this antenna, I can't get the signal at all, regardless of how I extend the antenna. Perhaps my particular radio is finicky about the antenna type.
Got this antenna for a gift, and I have to say what a difference in reception it made compared to the stock rubber type antenna, my scanner sounds crisp and clear now.
Works really great on my pro-95 and could reach cities 20 miles away when it is all the way extended out. I will also buy another one for my new pro-97.
I have had mine for about 10 years now and have not had any problems with it. I compaired my old one to the new ones and they don't seem to be as well made. But for the price I am going to get another one for my new scanner. BTW I have an all mode all band reciever and this antenna does ok even on HF.
It's ok. The range is great! I bought three and they all broke because of the plastic part of the antenna.
This antenna works almost as good, if not better than my mobile antenna. It makes the scanner a bit cumbersome, I can see how it would break easily. Highly reccommended if you don't carry your scanner around alot. To notice a huge difference in reception, pay attention to how many sections you extend for different bands, it's in the manual.
Great reception, but the antenna snapped off the connector. But, it was great while it lasted. BTW, I won't be replacing it with RS.
Dude! If it keeps breaking, why keep buying it again? I've had mine for almost 10 years and never had a problem with it. I've even dropped my scanner a few times and this thing still held up.
Good antenna but it breaks very easily!!! I have bought 4 in 1 year.