I started with a handheld model (RS PRO-82) since its my firs model, I cannot tell how its compared to others, but ok to my purposes, I live close to Puebla airport, but there is a railroad yard close by, so I listen to that too, and police, and cabs opps etc. after that I found out I liked the hobby so I got a RS PRO-2032, then a beracat BC350A, and after that I own 6 more (a PRO-97 handheld too) right now I own 9 scanners, and of these, one got brand new, all others from EBAY, so far all work great, so far the three I have been able to test (antennas are made by myself, with pipes and wire ) I feed puebla using PRO-2032 and an antenna made with wire and a PVC pipe (check it out
), my point is you can get a cheap scanner in EBAY, to start with and go from there...