Surprise PD is carried on the Regional Wireless Cooperative, which is a P25 Phase I simulcast trunked system. It is expected to be upgraded to Phase II within the next couple of years.
Simulcast systems are notoriously difficult to properly receive with most scanners.
However, Surprise PD is carried not only on Simulcast G of the RWC, but also a non-simulcast site, known as an Intellirepeater, atop the White Tank Mtn's, making them one of the easier PD's to listen to, if you use that site to do so.
And they only have 2 unencrypted channels. Their dispatch channel, and a city-wide channel that all of the city departments are supposed to be able to have access to for interoperability needs in the event of a major incident. I may have heard the city-wide channel used once.
If you want to add in the one unencrypted channel that El Mirage PD has, you may have some issues receiving them, as they are only carried on Simulcast G, which has the multi-path issues.
As for Surprise FD, they are a part of the Phoenix FD's Regional Dispatch Center. The RDC dispatches for about two dozen fire departments and districts, with an automatic aid agreement so that the closest appropriate unit goes to the call, regardless of city borders. Glendale, Peoria, Sun City, El Mirage, Surprise, and North County (Sun City West and Wittmann) are the Northwest Valley departments and districts that are a part of the RDC.
The FD runs two radio systems. For fires and hazmat incidents, they have a 15 channel analog simplex NFM system in the VHF-High band. For EMS and any other calls, they use the Regional Wireless Cooperative trunked system, which again, can be problematic to listen to.
The current Maricopa County system is easy to listen to. The system currently being tested will be simulcast, and may be difficult to listen to, as the RWC is now. But we won't know for sure until it goes live. Encryption may or may not be much more heavily utilized on the new system as well, but again, we won't know until it goes live.
A Uniden Home Patrol 2 may work well enough for you at home, but no one can say for sure unless you try it out.
However, your best bet to beat the simulcast issues would be the new Uniden SDS-100 handheld. I don't have one myself, but I have seen and heard it handle simulcast issues much better than my GRE PSR-500 handheld and even a Uniden BCD-436HP handheld.
The SDS-100 however, runs $649.99 (plus possible sales tax and/or shipping, depending on where you purchase it).
Currently, there is no mobile or base equivalent. Speculation abounds about whether or not either will ever be announced and released.
I don't want to discourage you from the hobby. I just want you to be fully informed as to what you may want/need in order to be able to listen to what you want to as effectively as possible.
I'm lucky in that Peoria PD is also carried on the White Tank Mtn's IR High site, so I can easily listen to them. And I listen to the fire department VHF channels. I listen to Surprise PD, MCSO, DPS, and some other easily heard agencies on occasion as well. However, I am unable to listen to El Mirage or Glendale PD, most of Phoenix PD, or most EMS calls due to the simulcast issues. I simply enjoy what I can hear.
John
Peoria