I've had a radio scanner longer than a ham radio license.  

I bought my first radio scanner, a Uniden BC70-XLT, in the late 1980s. The desire for more capacity led to the purchase of a Radio shack Pro-39 in the mid 1990s.

My scanner sat unused for many years after I got married as there was no way to rig an external antenn to the house. And the traditional rubber ducky antenna doesn't offer great reception.

Fortunately, though I bought a house near a hospital. This provides quite a bit of radio traffic that can be picked up with a rubber ducky antenna. The design of my house makes installing a rooftop antenna difficult.

Besides inbound ambulances briefing the ER, a local company uses the hospital roof for a paging system and the local amateur radio club has a repeater up on the roof. Plus there is the occasional radio traffic when the medical chopper Aeromed is in the area.

The county I live in uses a numbering scheme for all fire fighting trucks used by the cities and townships that are situated within Ottawa County's boundries.