"OhioGuy" wrote in message ...
I just saw a Realistic Pro-55 scanner at a thrift store, and was
reminded that I always wanted to get something like that. I was afraid
it was totally outmoded at this point though - looked like you had to
buy crystals and set up each one of the buttons for a specific
frequency. It got the weather radio, but that was it, so it must have
had only 1 crystal in there. Not sure if it was worth buying even at
$4, if you can still get crystals, or if everything is encrypted these
days. (and how do you find out what frequency local things are broadcast
on???)

Can anyone tell me - are there better ways to start out at $100 or
less?

The good part about such things, You can have a dedicated radio monitoring a
vital frequency 24/7 rather than being just about everywhere else.