Scanner and CB reccomendations

[chakeubeam]

I need the best scanner and CB for one sole purpose, speed. My pockets are deep, my ability's to pick a new hobby to learn are quick and I'm not known for settle for anything less than the best thing out there.
I'm looking for something stealthy (somewhat, installation is equally as important I understand). something I can pick up quick on how to use, and is good for traveling cross country.

[Lukas132]

Just seeing this post now but I see you posted a while back - did you get an answer?

[Ham man]

To take a stab at it - CB requires someone on both ends, both you in your car, and someone else - in front of you or coming from the other direction, that is willing to talk to you and give you a fair warning.
Because you are mobile, your range is limited to about 9 miles in any direction.
To increase your signal strength you are going to have to use a bigger antenna - like 9' long and you are going to have to mount it to the roof of the car to be effective. It's not like a cell phone - where the tower does all the work, or amateur radio - where the repeater does all the work. You can't use amateur radio - legally - to avoid legalities such as speed traps.

Scanner however - I can comment on.
If you just want to listen locally, you can pretty much get the same performance out of a handheld radio and a mag mount antenna on the roof as you can with a larger, more expensive radio.

The first thing you need to look at is where you live and how your municipalities transmits their data.
Some still uses analog, while others has gone digital P-25 being the most popular, while others are truly digital such as Open Sky and the new FirstNet. No matter what you do, most PLMRS radio is going to go away - not be able to be listened to - once the country switches to OpenSky. It will all be 800 or 700 MHz encrypted.

The Uniden BCT15X would be my first choice.
The Uniden BCD396XT would be my second choice.

Radio Scanner Guide - Picking A Digital Scanner

[Ham man]

To take a stab at it - CB requires someone on both ends, both you in your car, and someone else - in front of you or coming from the other direction, that is willing to talk to you and give you a fair warning.
Because you are mobile, your range is limited to about 9 miles in any direction.
To increase your signal strength you are going to have to use a bigger antenna - like 9' long and you are going to have to mount it to the roof of the car to be effective. It's not like a cell phone - where the tower does all the work, or amateur radio - where the repeater does all the work. You can't use amateur radio - legally - to avoid legalities such as speed traps.

Scanner however - I can comment on.
If you just want to listen locally, you can pretty much get the same performance out of a handheld radio and a mag mount antenna on the roof as you can with a larger, more expensive radio.

The first thing you need to look at is where you live and how your municipalities transmits their data.
Some still uses analog, while others has gone digital P-25 being the most popular, while others are truly digital such as Open Sky and the new FirstNet. No matter what you do, most PLMRS radio is going to go away - not be able to be listened to - once the country switches to OpenSky. It will all be 800 or 700 MHz encrypted.

The Uniden BCT15X would be my first choice.
The Uniden BCD396XT would be my second choice.

Radio Scanner Guide - Picking A Digital Scanner

[Ham man]

A good multi band scanner will give you the option of being able to listen to some local radio traffic.
My old Bearcat BCT 7 allows me to listen to both public service, citizens band radio, and amateur radio, with many used frequencies saved into groups - Police, Fire, Highway Patrol, News etc.

A CB radio will be reliant upon putting up a resonant antenna on top of your vehicle and having a decent CB radio inside of the vehicle, and having someone on the other end that is willing to give you a heads up.

In todays world, most people are just out for themselves and they will not give you a signal report, let alone a smokey report.

The 1980's are gone forever.

Might I suggest that you look for a Ranger 2950 Import / CB radio and some type of dual mode - Analog / Digital scanner.

Its not going to matter though, because in the long run, when the USA mandates that every state uses FirstNet, all scanner listening for police will come to an end.

There will always be a need for analog radios since most fire companies in my neighborhood are volunteer and could not afford to buy digital radios for each fireman on the roster.