Where to Buy a Signal Jammer in Starfield: Vendors, Prices & Stats

Scan jammers (also called signal or scanner jammers) are the difference between a clean landing and a confiscated cargo hold in Starfield. Here is where to buy one, what each model costs, and why stacking them is a waste of credits.

Where to Buy a Scan Jammer in Starfield

I learned the hard way that scan jammers aren't stocked at every shipyard, so knowing the two vendors who actually carry them will save you a lot of pointless flying. The first is Lon Anderssen, who runs the Ship Services desk at the Red Mile on Porrima III, out in the Porrima system. His office sits right behind the front desk — just tell him you want to view and modify your ships, then open the Ship Builder, hit Add, and scroll over to the Equipment category. The second is Jasmine "Jazz" Durand, stationed in the space service room aboard The Key, the Crimson Fleet's base. She won't appear until after Naeva wraps up her tour of the station, so if she's not there yet, just keep working through the Crimson Fleet questline.

Both vendors actually pull from the same stock, which is nice — for most players, the Red Mile is a much shorter trip than the Key. If you're planning out where to shop, sites like INARA list the Multi-Frequency sellers as Kavnyk, Dumar Hasadi over in the Settled Systems, Kryx, Jasmine Durand, and Lon Anderssen at Porrima, which is a handy reference when you're charting a route across systems. One heads-up, though: vendor inventories are partly random, so try not to get frustrated if a jammer isn't there on your first stop. If the Equipment tab looks empty, just sleep or wait a full in-game day and check back. And keep in mind that some modules won't show up at all until your player level is high enough, so an empty listing isn't always just bad luck.

Scan Jammer Models, Prices and Evasion Stats

If you're trying to figure out which scan jammer is actually worth your credits, here's the short version: the price climbs fast as the evasion bonus goes up. Eurogamer lists the basic Single-Frequency model at 2,700 credits, and it gives you 10% scan evasion with no skill requirement — it's also the lightest of the three at just 5 mass. Step up to the Dual-Frequency version and you're paying 4,500 credits for 30% evasion, but now Starship Design rank 1 is required and it's slightly heavier at 6 mass. Then there's the Multi-Frequency unit, which is the real investment: 9,000 credits for 50% evasion, gated behind Starship Design rank 2, and weighing in at 7 mass. Gamerant, for what it's worth, lists slightly different numbers — 2,850 credits for a 10% jammer and 4,750 for the 30% one — which honestly tracks with how Starfield tends to shuffle or tweak vendor pricing between versions. So don't get too hung up on any single price tag. The stats are what actually matter here, and each tier up genuinely gives you better odds of slipping past a scan.

If you pull up INARA's database entry for the Scan Jammer – Multi-Frequency, you'll get a pretty clear picture of what the top-tier version brings to the table. It's a Class A module with a mass of 7, a listed value of 10,000 credits, and a required player level of 16. The manufacturer is logged as Crimson Fleet, it grants a 50% scan evasion bonus, and it won't even appear as an option unless you've put a point into Starship Design rank 2. That lines up with the in-game pricing reported elsewhere, which puts the Multi-Frequency unit at around 9,000 credits from stock — the INARA value is more of a baseline reference than a fixed shelf price. The table below breaks down all three tiers — Single-Frequency, Dual-Frequency, and Multi-Frequency — so you can weigh evasion percentage against cost, mass, and skill requirements at a glance.

If you're planning to smuggle on a regular basis, the Multi-Frequency model is really the only one worth spending your credits on, since its 50% evasion is the strongest single-module bonus you can slot onto a ship. The Single-Frequency jammer is a cheap stopgap for players who haven't put any points into Starship Design yet, but 10% won't save a hold full of contraband very often — think of it as a nudge in your favor rather than real protection. The Dual-Frequency sits in the middle at 30% evasion, which is respectable but still leaves you sweating through every scan. One thing to keep in mind: INARA's level 16 requirement applies to the Multi-Frequency entry specifically, so a low-level character may need to rank up before the module even shows up in a vendor's inventory. That requirement pairs with the Starship Design rank 2 gate, meaning the best jammer is effectively locked behind both character progression and perk investment.

How to Install a Scan Jammer in the Ship Builder

Once you've bought a scan jammer from a vendor, getting it onto your ship is pretty painless. Just go back to the same ship services interface and open up the Ship Builder. Hit Add, scroll over to the Equipment category, and the jammer will be sitting there in the list. The best part is that it mounts on any weapon point, so you don't have to give up a utility slot or tear your ship apart just to squeeze it in. That kind of flexibility matters a lot when you're flying a bare-bones smuggling setup — you can slap the jammer on a hardpoint you hardly ever use and keep the rest of your build untouched. One catch, though: not every shipyard carries the module. If it's missing from the Equipment list, you'll likely have to visit a different vendor or wait for the stock to refresh.

The catch is that not every shipyard carries one, and the Ship Builder only shows modules that are actually in stock at your current location. So if the Equipment category comes up empty, it usually means one of two things: you're at the wrong vendor, or that vendor's inventory has rotated out for the day. Once the jammer is installed, it works passively — there's no button to press and no cooldown to babysit. Every time you enter a major settlement, the authorities run their scan, only now with a reduced chance of catching anything. Before I run contraband, I always double-check the ship's equipment list to confirm the module is really attached, since a jammer sitting in your cargo hold does absolutely nothing.

How Does a Scan Jammer Actually Work?

A scan jammer messes with the specific frequencies that authorities' scanners rely on, which makes it harder for them to spot illegal goods tucked away in your ship's cargo. The moment that really counts is when you enter a major settlement, since that's when local security automatically scans your ship for black-market merchandise. Here's where a lot of new smugglers get burned: anything illegal in your character's personal inventory is guaranteed to be found, so carrying contraband on your person is never a safe play. Stashing it in the cargo hold is still risky on its own, but that's exactly where a jammer pulls its weight—it lowers the scan's effective detection rate and gives your haul a real chance of slipping through.

The key nuance here is that a scan jammer protects the ship, not you. Those two things are handled separately by the game, which is where a lot of smugglers get tripped up. Anything sitting in your pockets gets flagged no matter how much evasion your ship is packing, so a Multi-Frequency jammer with its 50% bonus won't do a thing for the contraband you forgot to move into cargo. Players who get caught usually describe one of two mistakes: they carried the goods personally, or they assumed a jammer guaranteed safe passage. It doesn't. What it does is shift the odds in your favor, and with the Multi-Frequency model those odds are meaningfully better than the cheaper 10% or 30% versions. But a failed roll still means arrest and confiscation of the merchandise, which is exactly how one Shacknews writer watched a smuggling attempt cost them 50,000 credits. Treat every run as a gamble with better-than-even odds rather than a sure thing, and you'll plan your routes — and your backup plans — a lot more carefully.

Stealing a Scan Jammer from Crimson Fleet Ships

The cheapest way to get a scan jammer is to skip the vendors entirely and take one off a ship you've already captured. Commandeering a vessel that already has a jammer installed costs you nothing beyond the boarding fight itself, and Crimson Fleet ships are the best hunting ground for one simple reason: the faction manufactures the Multi-Frequency module, the top-tier version with 50% scan evasion, so their vessels tend to come pre-equipped with the best hardware. If you're already working through the Crimson Fleet questline, you'll run into plenty of candidates without going out of your way. Just board the ship, clear out the crew, and claim the vessel as your own. Keep in mind there's no system for disassembling ships for parts, so if you want to hold onto that jammer, you may end up flying a subpar home ship for a while. Stolen ships can always be sold later once you've stripped the component you need.

There is one significant drawback: Starfield has no system for disassembling ships into parts. You cannot strip a jammer off a captured ship and bolt it onto your main vessel. That means you may end up flying a subpar home ship just to keep the component, which is a real tradeoff if your daily driver is a heavily upgraded custom build. The consolation is that stolen ships can be sold later, so a captured Crimson Fleet ship is not a dead end. Many players keep the stolen hull as a dedicated smuggling runner and leave their main ship clean for legitimate work.

Do Scan Jammers Stack With Shielded Cargo?

No, scan jammer effects do not stack with each other. Buying multiple jammers only increases your ship's mass and wastes credits, so install a single unit and put the savings into a Shielded Cargo Hold instead. According to a widely cited Steam community discussion, shielded cargo holds give roughly a 3% to 37% chance of avoiding detection depending on tier, while a scan jammer contributes a flat 50%. Pairing one jammer with the best shielded hold you can afford is the standard smuggling setup.

The combination is not a guarantee, though. Players report still being flagged with contraband and a displayed 0% evasion chance even after installing both a jammer and a shielded hold, which suggests either a bug or an interaction the game does not explain clearly. The Deception skill is the other lever here: investing in it can make contraband scans up to 50% less effective, but ranking it up takes time. If you want the full picture, stack one jammer, one shielded hold, and Deception ranks, then accept that the system still has room to fail you.

Why Your Scan Jammer May Not Work

The most common reason a jammer appears to fail is that the player is carrying contraband personally rather than in the cargo hold. Personal inventory items are always found, no matter how much ship evasion you have. The second most common reason is that the module was never actually installed on a weapon point; buying it and leaving it in storage does nothing. I check the ship's equipment screen every time before a run for exactly this reason.

A third factor is vendor randomness and level gating. If you bought a Single-Frequency jammer early because the Multi-Frequency model was not available, you are working with only 10% evasion, which fails often enough to feel broken. Some players also report the evasion indicator showing 0% even with a jammer fitted, which points to a display bug rather than a functional one. Finally, remember that getting caught means arrest and confiscation of your merchandise. One Shacknews writer described a failed smuggling attempt that cost 50,000 credits, which is a useful reminder of what is actually at stake on every scan.

Selling Contraband and Building a Smuggling Route

Once your jammer is fitted, the other half of the equation is knowing where to sell. Players consistently suggest offloading contraband at the Den or The Key, both of which sit outside the reach of the major settled systems' authorities. The Red Mile is also worth remembering because the same NPC vendor who sells you a Shielded Cargo Hold is standing right next to Lon Anderssen's ship services desk, so you can buy both defensive modules in a single stop.

My working routine is simple: buy the jammer and shielded hold at the Red Mile, verify both are installed, load contraband into cargo rather than pockets, and fly directly to a fence at the Den or The Key. Skip this order and you will eventually eat a confiscation. The economics favor the Multi-Frequency jammer over time, because a single avoided seizure pays for the 9,000-credit module many times over if you are hauling high-value goods. Treat the setup cost as insurance rather than an expense.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I buy a scan jammer in Starfield?

Two known vendors stock scan jammers: Lon Anderssen at the Red Mile's Ship Services desk on Porrima III in the Porrima system, and Jasmine "Jazz" Durand in the space service room of The Key, the Crimson Fleet base. Both stock the same selection, though vendor inventory is partially random and some modules are gated by player level.

How much does a scan jammer cost in Starfield?

Prices scale with strength. The Single-Frequency model costs 2,700 credits with 10% evasion, the Dual-Frequency costs 4,500 credits with 30% evasion, and the Multi-Frequency costs 9,000 credits with 50% evasion, per Eurogamer's listing. Gamerant reports slightly different figures, citing 2,850 credits for 10% evasion and 4,750 credits for 30% evasion.

Do multiple scan jammers stack in Starfield?

No. Scan jammer effects do not stack. Buying more than one only increases your ship's mass and wastes credits, so install a single jammer and pair it with a shielded cargo hold instead. A shielded hold adds roughly 3% to 37% evasion depending on tier, and the Deception skill can further reduce scan effectiveness by up to 50%.

What skill do I need for a multi-frequency scan jammer?

The Multi-Frequency scan jammer requires the Starship Design skill at rank 2. The Dual-Frequency model needs Starship Design rank 1, while the Single-Frequency jammer has no skill requirement at all. INARA also lists a required level of 16 for the Multi-Frequency entry, so low-level characters may not see it in vendor stock yet.