Ah.. from the I-5 corridor.. that explains the starbucks, bremerton ferry post on the other thread... You with Seattle Fire? I have some friends there.
Radio Reference is a great place to take a look at the radio system that you want to listen to so you will know what type of scanner to get. For instance, here in Edmonton any scanner that can track an EDACS system will do fine. However in Calgary you will need a radio like the Radio Shack PRO-96 that can track a P25 system.
One thing you may want to think about is searching to see if someone has a scanner feed setup that you can hear online. One great place to look is shoutcast. As you can see from the link there are a ton of agencies that you can listen to free of charge.
any scanner will do it for you. you just have to examine your budget and go from there.
a word of caution, much like anything else radio technology changes from time to time. the big thing now is this apco25 nonsense. everytime they come out with soemthign new and start to sell it to all the dept chiefs, everybody needs new gear. trunking, digital, secure dig etc. just so you're prepared to maybe need to upgrade in a year or three.
then again, some towns have been using simplex vhf systems since they were invented and have no thoughts about changing so you might be fine with a 80's scanner until the end of time.
Out of curiosity, how much do you want to spend? Are you wanting to spend as little as you can in order to hear those frequencies? Or do you want to spend a little more and be ready in case you move to an area that has a digital trunk system?
Well I would like a decent scanner, I am not moving anywhere so these frequencies would be fine. But I would like a scanner that is if possible upgradeable in case there are any changes in the area. So I am flexible with price, I don't want the cheapest I can find but I don't want to shell out a months salary either
What I would suggest is to pick up a used Radio Shack PRO-96. This is the scanner that we use for the Edmonton feed. It will work on just about any radio system that you would come across, including the frequencies that are in use in your area.
