In this paper, we investigate the recently developed space time line code (STLC) scheme, which utilizes the channel state information (CSI) for encoding at the transmiter to achieve full spatial diversity gain. The theoretical analysis of the bit error rate (BER) performance for STLC is first evaluated. Moreover, aiming at alleviating the cost of radio frequency (RF) chains, antenna selection at both the transmitter and receiver sides is developed by minimizing the derived instantaneous BER. Furthermore, in the context of a flat Rayleigh fading channel, we derive an upper bound for quantifying the BER performance of STLC with both transmit and receive antenna selection. Finally, simulation results validate the accuracy of the above theoretical analysis results and show the performance improvement of the developed antenna selection schemes. INDEX TERMS Space time line code (STLC), multiple input multiple output (MIMO), antenna selection (AS), BER.