I am curious if it is possible to setup a police scanner using just a computer and software.
Thanks in advance.
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M$8 Answers
You may also want to find out, if you ever plan on using it in a car, if it's legal in your state to have a police scanner operating in a car. In some states it isn't.
UPDATE: Reading other answers, it seems as if I may have misinterpreted the question. If the question is whether you can do scanning without an actual scanner, using only your computer, you'll need to remember that a scanner is basically a computer that essentially does only one thing--listen. But you've got to have the radio hardware, including an antenna, to listen. Enter http://www.winradio.com/home/receivers.htm
If you're just doing it out of curiosity, for free you can do it online if you're in a city that's covered by one of the sites that does it. Air Traffic Control is available at http://www.liveatc.net (saw it on CNN tonight), or a whole mess of public-service scanners is at:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/
(It works pretty well, too--I've had it on for about 10 min. while I type this.
There's a lot of other stuff to listen to available here:
http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Internet_and_Radio/Live_streaming/
and here:
http://radiotime.com/genre/c_257/Scanner.aspx
and here:
http://www.scannerbuddy.com/
Do a google search for listen scanner online.
See more info on the TrunkTracker at:
TrunkTracking Tips and answers to Frequency Asked Questions (FAQS)
by Ben Saladino, KC5IRJ 12/20/2003
http://www.bensware.com/scandfw/tttipsfaqs.htm
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M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Alternatively, I can tell you that there is control software for hand-held scanners. Funny enough, answering this question I've discovered that there is software for my own scanner =p, a Radio Shack PRO-95.
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M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
As far as receiving the signal that wouldn't be difficult, as existing antenna's pick up both analog and digital (it would just take a bit of adjustment to pick up the specific signal range). I have a couple of TV tuner cards, and new ones are pretty cheap and have built in digital decoders, I just haven't seen any software that can do it.
http://www.winradio.com/home/g305e.htm
Hopefully the PS didn't go with Icom's proprietary Dstar system, but went with non-proprietary Project 25 instead, if that's the case you'll need this to go with the receiver;
http://www.winradio.com/home/g305e.htm . Be aware if the agency has activated the digital security measures, you can spend the money and still not hear anything. :(
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Visting the link provided by maddoggietz lead me to this link http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/ that will lead you to 1759 live audio streams. Good luck on finding your area.
oops--took too long editing--the full FCC report is here:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-132A1.pdf
I don't know anything about WinTV cards, so I looked them up online. Seems as if the card can also be used as an FM receiver--and your FM broadcast band is 88.1 to 107.9 FM. Aircraft is around the 120s, 2-meter ham (last line in first image) 144 to 148. Public Service/business will be 150 to 160 or so, railroads in the 160s and I think (without looking), marine is in the 170s. So if you can push it past 107 into the 150s, you can get the organizations still using analog--plenty are. I'm in a major metropolitan area and I can hear almost everything with an old 20-channel scanner that does 144-172 MHz and 444-450 MHz..
See second image for info on band-plan for current public safety frequencies. Also read over the text in its source: http://www.911dispatch.com/info/700_plan.html
If you have the stomach, read over the actual law outlining the new public-service frequencies. It's 312 pages long. Just skim it for the diagrams--it's the source of the second image provided.
In any event, you'll still need the software to follow the ball, as it were. But if you've got all that in place, it mighty be possible to use the TV cards as scanners.
Se second image for info on band-plan for current public safety frequencies. Also read over the text in its source: http://www.911dispatch.com/info/700_plan.html
For my area there isn't a stream going.
I realize I could get a scanner from RadioShack or the like and hook it up to my computer and stream it that way. I am trying to see if it is possible without spending $400+ on the scanner, plus cable, plus software.
I have a couple of old analog WinTV tuner cards, and getting a cheapy digital one wouldn't be an issue, it's if they can pick up the frequencies used locally that I am wondering about.