A variety of scanners are available, however, they fall into two broad categories - handheld portable and mains powered scanners. 

Scanners can be purchased from a wide variety of sources including electronics dealers such as Maplins other on-line dealers as well as some shops catering for transport enthusiasts.

Mains powered scanners offer the best in terms of receiving capability and vary in price from around £150 upwards for one of reasonable quality. Most come with a telescopic antennae which offers fair reception. 

Living approximately two miles from the River Mersey I can receive most transmissions.  However, since Mersey Radio installed a new transmitter in summer 1999 the Mersey Radio movements broadcast on Channel 9 has not been receivable. Though most ship - shore transmissions are, even those originating from vessels some distance away.

I use a Realistic Pro2022 mains scanner purchased from a now defunct Tandy shop . A roof mounted or inside loft mounted antennae I understand will improve reception significantly - this I intend to get round to one day!

Many mains powered scanners also have the facility to enable you to power them from a car power socket which is useful for taking the scanner out and about, but you really are tied to your car. Mains powered scanners also require a battery to maintain the scanner's memory when switched off. This requires changing every 3 to 6 months or so.

A mains scanner isn't very handy if you are standing on the quay side or onboard ship. For use in such locations a hand held, battery powered scanner is required. These often look like walkie-talkie radios and come complete with "rubber duck" antennae which makes them more suited to portable use. Any decent hand held scanner will be fitted with a standard BNC plug as are mains scanners. Into that a external antennae can be connected significantly boosting the power of the scanner, ideal for use at home if you don't want to buy both a mains and portable receiver.

To power your scanner you will need some rechargeable batteries. Don't use ordinary batteries as these will cost a fortune! It is best to get two sets and carry a charged set with you. Some hand held scanners have a power input which will also charge the scanner's batteries which is useful. However, the inbuilt charger is slow [at least on my Netset hand held receiver.

To overcome this I purchased a rapid charger which also has a battery discharge and conditioning circuit which completely discharges the batteries before recharging, this prevents the development of "battery memory" which shortens the life of the battery.

Which ever scanner you go for ensure it has a reasonable number of channels. You may think that you only need a few but if you visit several ports its useful to keep the frequencies programmed in. A minimum of 50 channels is recommended, though 200 is more desirable. My portable has 50 channels. I currently only have one spare channel and sometimes wished I had bought a model with a greater channel memory, my mains machine is much more flexible in this respect.

A useful accessory for your scanner is a voice operated tape recorder or other recording device. This can be used to record transmissions when you are out.

One final accessory which is a must is a suitable earpiece or headphones. Scanners are monophonic so if you use the headphones off your personal stereo only one side will probably work. Best solution is to get one of those clip over ear -earpieces of the type which you sometimes see policemen wearing.