Railfans have found that ham radio transceivers are much, much more sensitive than any scanner. But they are far more complex to program and use than are some scanners. People almost always choose to download a program on their computer that will program their scanner(s) for them. And you do have to get a modern scanner that is made to pick up "narrow-band" transmissions -- which are twice as close together as the older transmissions we all were used to. That is, before narrow-band, all frequencies were 25 mHz apart. They are now 12.5 mHZ apart, so if you have an older wide-band scanner, whatever you are able to pick up will always be soft in volume.

I had not heard about Marks Scanners -- thanks! That sounds like a great resource!

And I did not know that any scanner was pre-programmed to pick up whatever transmissions are in the area the scanner is in. Cool!

Being able to sort frequencies into folders is a great feature.

There are some good discussions about scanners on Trainorders in their Railfan Technology forum. No, you do not need to be a member to read any of the threads on Page 1 of this, or any forum, only to post replies, and read post beyond Paet 1 on threads that are more than 1 page long. Below are titles and dates the tread was started, and links to the 4 threads about scanners on Page 1 of the Railfan Technology forum.

" NXDN scanners. The good, the bad, and the ugly,"
Started 05/26/18 14:18 by a guy who is a ham.
"NXDN" means digital transmissions.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?9,4561489

And

"Scanner interference from car"
Started 05/04/18 06:52

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?9,4545791

And

"Uniden BCD436HP"
Started 03/30/18 00:14

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?9,4519693

And

"About radio antennas . . ."
Started 03/15/18 09:05
The antenna you use with your scanner has everything to do with how much traffic your scanner will be able to pick up.
This thread does go to 2 pages,so non-members cannot read beyond Page 1, but there is lots of good info on Page 1.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?9,4508891