Ok ,I have been doing some more reseach and now I'm thinking of just getting a ham radio and license instead of a scanner. Makes more sense to recieve and transmit.
I'm going to order a book for ham radios then take the test. Now I have 3 questions;
1. What book ...for someone who doesnt know much about radios?
2. What HAM Radio for a SHTF scenario? I want to listen in on emergency frequencies mostly just in case of a SHTF scenario. I also want something portable. I would like it to be water proof and shock proof if possible
3. Am I allowed to listen and not transmit if I dont have a license? Just want to play with it until I get one.
The links DieselBob posted are good. And yes, the Technician test is actually pretty easy. The General Class, and Extra Class tests are much more involved. I am a General. I have not been able to accomplish Extra yet. Way too much studying for my brain at this time! General and Extra allows you use of more frequencies, particularly the HF bands down in the 1.8 to 30 MHZ bands which is where you can communicate with people in other countries or on the other side of the US by bouncing your radio signal off the ionosphere. But for now, for what you want, the Technician license should be great!
Some really good portable multi band, and multi frequency radios that work quite effectively as scanners are the Yaesu VX7R's. The problem with most portable hand held ham radios is that they generally only receive from about 136 to 174 MHZ and therefore you can't listen to much emergency communications. But a radio like the VX7R can receive all the way from something like .500mhz up to 1300mhz. They have the newer VX8RD, and it is a pretty cool little radio, and I bought one, but ended up turning around and selling it because the speaker is so weak and quiet I could barely hear the thing if there was any kind of noise going on at all. Even in my quiet chevy suburban, I could not even hear the audio worth a crap when I was driving. But the VX7R has much better audio.
But then the problem is, I am not aware of any trunking ham radios, so with only a ham radio you are going to be limited as to what you can effectively listen to. But you are right! Why only listen when you can have the ability to transmit as well. I am part of an emergency radio communications group in our church where we prepare to be able to provide emergency communications over the airwaves in case something takes out the phones and things.
Yes you can own a ham radio without a license. It's just up to you not to transmit on bands that you are not licensed to transmit on. But no problem with owning one and getting familiar with it and listening while you are preparing to take the test. There are a lot of idiots out there that get their hands on ham radios and transmit all kinds of annoying stuff on the bands, and really make the hobby a pain for the rest of us.
So yeah, for sure get your ham radio license, and a radio, and then you can have fun with the hobby, and also help out, or be able to get help when other forms of communication are down. And you can get all the scanners you want and have them mounted however you want in your car, and the cops can't touch you
Also, keep in mind that most hand held ham radios have a maximum transmit power of 5 watts which is fine if you are fairly close to who you are talking to, or if you are close to the repeater that you are talking through. Whereas mobile ham radios generally put out 50 watts, some of them a little more. But with a mobile 50 watt radio and an external antenna you will GREATLY increase your talking distance. But yeah, handheld radios are for sure quite handy to have.
