Someone recommend a good cheap one with decent reception. I'd like to be able to do dual zones... so, one set of channels when I'm at home, another set when I'm at work.
It's odd, I remember paying like $100 for a used 2-way radio back when I was in EMS, but the scanners I'm looking at on Amazon all seem to start at $80 and go up to like $300 or some crap. Aren't there halfway decent little battery-powered handhelds with an AC adapter for the $50-60 range? I'll pay $100 if I have to,, but would rather not.
It's funny, our department head at work has a major boner about the scanner... he doesn't just want it off when he is there, he has actually taken it away, and people are afraid now, like they're gonna be turned in to the principal. Screw that... I like to hear it, I want to know what's going on out in the community, and it's a safety issue for me and others. So eff 'em, I'm buyin' my own and I'll just keep it with me and use it when I'm working. Guarantee ain't nobody takin' my personal property and hiding it away.
What are the agencies of interest in these two zones? What's the level of criticality that you hear everything while at work?
Based on my memory of where you work in BVIL, even hearing local agencies inside the ER is likely to be spotty for a portable. Reasons: your local agencies are all on VHF-Hi which does not penetrate buildings well to start with, add in the usual conditions inside hospitals of metal studs/lath/X-ray shielding and signal strength just disappears so your scanner goes silent.