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!