Just a suggestion for you Triple Nickle, Maybe look into getting your technician class ham radio license. I'm a CB'er and a ham and like to have both a CB and a 2 meter (or 2 meter/440) in the vehicle. Even though you will probably hear the most current local traffic conditions, accidents, etc. on the CB, you will gain a few extra things with having the 2 meter rig with you and the ability to talk on it.
First, you can talk through repeaters which can expand your radio coverage range out to 50 or more miles and gives you more people to stay in contact with. Next would be that there are a fair number of repeaters that do SkyWarn and weather watch nets and emergency nets. These nets often pass info along about severe storms, tornados, rotation (of potential tornados), hail, snow, ice, etc. You can attend a Skywarn class for free (taught by the national weather service) to recognize pending storm/tornado activity in advance. Vitually all of the 2 meter mobile radios will be able to monitor the national weather service frequencies so you can keep up with weather changes or emergency notifications. And lastly, you will be able to monitor police, fire and ambulance as well. Simply research the primary public service frequencies (mainly dispatch frequencies)for the areas you normally drive through, program them into the radio's memory and you are set.
A new 50 watt 2 meter mobile radio is about $150 and a 1/4 wave mag mount (20 inches tall for 2 meters) is about $25 or less. So for about the cost of a better scanner, you'll have a few extra ammenities that might come in handy on the road. The technician class license is pretty easy to obtain and there is plenty of info on the internet about practice tests, study guides, and testing locations.
Just something to ponder. Good luck!
Not sure what they would do to someone out-of-state if its legal in your home state?
