Currently, I’d say plunking down the big bucks to get a scanner that will work is acceptable. But, no one can predict what the future will bring. There are already agencies that encrypt full time and part time. And given that all comms systems become old and outdated, there are discussions on what should replace the old. That is probably most of what we hear about. New systems aren’t cheap, town and city budget discussions arise and are published as local news. There is also a new method of handling communications between the dispatch center and the mobile units (police & fire vehicles, etc.) which happens over the internet. It’s called First Net. And the comms are not able to be monitored. It’s not widespread yet, (I know of no First Net systems in Ct.) but it’s a new player in the game.
If you haven’t realized it yet, your post got highjacked. Getting back to your original question, I’d list all the agency’s you’d like to listen to and ask for advice on which scanners would work for you. Sometimes the most expensive ones can be overkill. Although, if one of the agency’s you want to monitor happens to be the state police, it’s probably a moot point because of something called simulcast (which can cause problems in some areas) and there are only 3 choices I know of that handle simulcast. Unication makes a pager style receiver and Uniden offers two scanners, all high priced units.
