If your not a ham, you'd be a LOT better off with a quality scanner - I'm not kidding.

The radios I carry cover MUCH fewer frequencies, when you have them in scan are slower, they weigh more, and programming them requires special software and cables. The only plus is that they can transmit if you have a license to do so, and as these radios go down to the ham bands, I do - but only on the ham frequencies

I'm lucky in that I have access to the programming gear through a friend