Hi, EB, welcome to the hobby.
First, let's start with clarification on some terms you are using, and
others that are good to know.
CB- Citizens Band- Uses 45 HF frequencies using 10 kHz steps ranging
from 26.965 to 27.405. There are 5 of those Channels that are used for
surface remote control of cars, boats, etc. CB radios are limited to 5
watts. This band does not require a license from the FCC for anyone to use
it. Some other unlicensed services are FRS and MURS.
FRS- Family Radio Service- a low power (1/2 watt) limited distance
(typically 1/4 to 1/2 mile and less in a building), that is supposed to be
for families, but
businesses use it too. Handy for an intercom at the house, or keeping in
touch with other people you are traveling with. The FCC rule is that the
transmitter must be attached to the antenna, and the antenna can not be
changed.
MURS- Multi User Radio Service- five channels on high band (see below) that
you can do quite a bit one, but limited to (I believe) 2 watts, and a
certain antenna height and gain. You can do digital and other modes also.
Hertz- A measurement of frequency, one cycle per second is one Hertz.
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz was the first one to produce electromagnetic waves
artificially. (Or at least he was the first one to realize it.)
HF- High Frequency- a range in the radio spectrum from 3 mHz to 30 mHz.
VHF- Very high Frequency- 30 to 300 mHz. There are two portions of this band
that are commonly referred to as low band and high band in the scanning and
two-way world. These are 30-50 mHz, and 150-174 mHz respectively.
Channel- typically a numerical representation of a frequency, such as
channel 19. This can also refer to a pair of frequencies such as
444.175/449.175 or ones used for a service such as a fire or police
repeater.
Two Way- typically used when talking about commercial applications, such as
a landscaping company.

A modern scanner is frequency programmable, can scan 30 to 1000 channels at
10 to over 50 channels per second. Once you get into the 100 channel scanner
range, most divide the total number of channels into 5 or 10 banks. Each of
these banks can be turned on or off so you can scan any one or all at once.
This is handy for separating agencies or geographic locations for ease of
selection. A scanner you can stay well informed to what is happening in your
community.

CB's come in all flavors, from ones with only a channel readout, volume,
squelch and a place to plug in the mike, to ones with roger beeps, echo (one
I haven't figured out the use of yet), talkback 'extra channels' (goes out
of the CB band), and washes your dishes and does your laundry for you. CB's
you can talk to and listen to others on CB. This is good and bad. Good
because it can be a nice way to keep in touch with your friends, and bad
because there are plenty of morons on it too. Thankfully, that's one reason
the power switch is there.

The smaller radio's are actually preferred by some since they are portable.
Larger ones are inconvenient as a carry on in an airplane, or to mount under
your dash. You will find you can fit many of these in a room. Your
limitation on the lower bands (HF and low band) will be the portables'
antenna. If you can connect an external antenna, that will improve
performance dramatically when you don't need to be portable.
You won't find scanners heating up unless you overcharge the batteries while
in it, or when it is placed near a heat source, and neither is recommended.
A transmitter, on the other hand will heat up under normal use, and heat
rapidly when a heat sink is missing or a high SWR is present. A high SWR
can also damage the transmitter.

SWR- Standing Wave Ratio- This is a comparison of the transmitted (forward)
power to the power that is being returned (reflected) from the antenna
and/or feedline (coax). It is a ratio, written as 1:1, 1.2:1, 2:1, and said
one to one, one point two to one, two to one swr. The goal is to have no
reflected
power (1:1), but that usually isn't the case. A high swr is caused when the
antenna system is not at the intended impedance, typically 50 ohms for all
stock radio systems. 2:1 or below is acceptable.

Impedance- it's a complicated answer, just know that when they don't match
between the transmitter, appliances, coax, and antenna, you have something
other than a 1:1 match. Anyone have a simple answer?

As far as listening quantity, get an inexpensive scanner from a friend or
someone from ebay with a 98%-100% feed back rating. You can always sell it
if you decide you don't like the hobby.
If you wish to talk to your friends, get everyone who doesn't have one to
buy a cb, and external antennas. I recommend the Anntron 99 for a vertical
antenna, and what ever your budget allows for a cb. Use the RG-8 coax if you
can, it has less loss
than RG-58. Your antenna is the limitation in all radio systems (just like
the portables), so get the best antenna possible. Talking over the 5-8 miles
can be done with a vertical, but if all of your friends
live in one general direction and you have the money and room, put up a
beam. You get what you pay for, but don't get ripped off.

Coax loss- a number in deci-Bels showing how much of your signal is lost due
to the design of the feedline. All feed line has loss, just some more than
others. Generally, the smaller the diameter the more lossy the coax is. The
higher the frequency you go, the more lossy feedline is. It won't be
noticeable from one end of cb to the other, but going up to 144 or 440 for
ham use is a major difference. A 3dB gain is twice as much, and a 3 dB loss
is half as much. 10 dB is 10 times difference, It is logarithmic.

Vertical and beam- a vertical is a single element vertically polarized
antenna, like the fm antenna on the fender of your car. A beam has 2 or more
elements, is directional, and can be vertically or horizontally polarized.
CB and FM (for the scanner) uses vertical polarization. Beans can be flat
and many different shapes. More elements usually means more gain, which
means you can talk farther. TV antennas on houses are horizontal beams.

Recommended reading: Radio Shack sells Police Call. Read the getting started
section in the very front many times and this will be a great start to your
radio hobby. Personally, I try to not go to Radio Shack except for emergency
parts runs, but there are a few select items that they carry I am impressed
with.
An advanced, detailed radio/electronics book is the ARRL handbook, and will
explain enough to almost make you an electronics engineer. If you like it
and get to a point you want more, get your ham ticket. Try your best to do
the Morse code, that will give you HF/shortwave.

I personally have all types of comms available. CB, FRS, MURS, and ham
radio. Scanners: Pro-96, BC-780, 2 Pro-2026's, Pro-2036. Ham: FT-747,
SB-102, SB-220, IC-740, 3kW tuner, tri-band beam, G5RV, TH-F6, FT-50,
FT-8900, IC-2700. I just built my first 440 repeater, too. That uses a
Mitrek. I modified one of the Pro-2026's with a discriminator jack and built
a data slicer for following a trunk system.
If I had to only choose one of the above, probably the TH-F6. I started in
scanning and CB back in the eighties, and I have been a ham for 15 years.

I know I missed something and the way I write it may be a little confusing,
but this will be enough for you to chew on for now. I think I need to find a
hobby.

Just because I can't avoid it either, did you live under a rock for the last
50 years? Do you have a tube cell phone?

Jason


"Eastward Bound" wrote in message
om...
I'm very new to this whole world of 2 way radios and scanners.

I'd like to make this into a new hobbie and I'm not sure which
direction to take. Scanners are for passive listening, I figure with
a scanner I can listen to the towns policemen and fire as well as what
the pilots are saying in their cessnas and small jetplanes.

I live in a small town of roughly 27,000 people and there should be
plenty of things to pick up on a scanner.

Only, can a two way radio pick up the same stuff as a scanner? With a
Two way CB radio can I talk to people in my town as well as the next
town over north and south of my town? There is about a 5 to 8 mile
separation and we do have some topography here. I'm only planning on
using a simple indoor antenna, a desktop unit.

Is a scanner the better deal? With a scanner can it pick up so many
more signals than a CB? With a scanner will I have more stuff to
listen to than a CB? Do scanners have a larger bandwidth? Is that
what it's called when the unit can pick up more channels than another?


TIA!