[carbonarc]

Surprised no one has mentioned the good old Radio Shack scanners. Modern versions can pick up any signal out there, including police, aviation, and ham. These can be programmed to search defined blocks of frequencies for traffic. Even better, one can check the databases at RadioReference.com for a listing of freqs in use in your area and program them into the scanner. Most Stormwatch groups publish their operating freqs on the web, and these are informative during times of bad weather such as we saw last April.

[steve86]

Yes, I have the Pro-106, which I reluctantly had to invest in after the public service (most of it) around here went digital. Works great, though, and it shares the Larsen tri-band outdoor antenna with the 2M (switch it back and forth). RS typically takes $100 off the digital scanners during the Christmas sale (whoops, that's over).