The design and construction of a new ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscope are described. The microscope stage incorporates a number of novel features including a coarse x–y sample motion of several millimeters while still routinely producing atomic resolution images. A set of electronics elements and a datasystem which have been developed to control the microscope are also discussed. The performance of the microscope is illustrated by presenting images of evaporated gold and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite surfaces.