Scanner Suggestions (Westchester County, NY)

Hi, I am looking into a new scanner. I live in northern Westchester County, NY, and the terrain is very hilly, and I have very poor reception. I am looking to get a portable handheld scanner that is very strong at receiving (I know antennas can help this as well, but for my current scanner, a larger antenna is not enough), and is also capable of trunking (Motorola Type II Smartzone). Although I don't absolutely need this, it may be worth investing in one that is capable of decoding Project 25. I want a good quality scanner that will be worth what I pay for it. Please give me some suggestions as to what scanners you think would be good for me based on this. Feel free to ask any additional questions.

Thanks,
Doug

The antenna you use will be far more important to your reception than the scanner model.

You do not mention the areas or services you are interested in monitoring in your post. Assuming just Westchester County, I have found the Uniden Bearcat BCD396XT to be more then satisfactory for my Westchester County scanning needs. But if you are interested in areas beyond, say Rockland across the River, then you'd need to upgrade to a BCD436HP in order to be able to monitor APCO Project 25 Phase II systems (which Westchester will be migrating to in the future).

As a portable scanner to hear the trunk I would use Uniden Bearcat BCD396XT and for a desk top or mobile the best one would be the Uniden Bearcat BCT15X.

Rescue, just a question, why would you suggest a Digital radio for portable, but an analog radio for base? Since there are no records of digital talk groups in the RRDB for the UHF Westchester system, the BC346XTC would be a good choice.

Now, if you wanted a Uniden handheld that you can charge the batteries in, yes, go for the BCD396XT (or BCD436HP). The BC346XTC does not charge batteries.

Yes the BC346XTC is also at great choice to use to hear the Trunk System.