Frequency Scanning Software Available?

[carefubandit]

Ok, first, i'm a scanner / frequency novice. I've owned a few police scanners in past. I wanted to ask if there is a software that is for sale that would scan police / fire / military / aircraft, etc frequencies without buying a hardware scanner (device)? Basically i'd like my pc to be a scanner with the whole interface (GUI) all on pc and not have to buy any hardware. Please be understanding i'm a novice. Please refrain from too deep of jargon. I just registered and searched for about 20 minutes on this. I've found software for interfacing with a scanner / device. I just want to buy software and have pc do all the scanning. I don't even know if there is a device or pc driven software for this. I am not against buying a card or usb / firewire box / device. Just trying to find the whole GUI on my pc instead of having to dial in things on a physical device.

Sorry if this is an ignorant question. But, when you have a medical question, you ask a doctor. A vehicle question you ask a mechanic. Thus, i'm at this site. I feel your forum appears to be the most educated that i've found thru Google and decided to join here.

Most Respectfully,
CarefulBandit

[MPSCS]

Welcome to Radio Reference!

Nothing like you describe exist. However there are web sites you can go to and click on various remote scanners that other's have setup, and listen to them. Below is one of many examples:

Scan America
http://www.scanamerica.us/index.php

[Dak48]

That would be a pretty cool idea, though I can see it would require some type of card or usb dongle to function as the actual scanner/receiver.

I seem to recall years ago, there was a product of some sort, that enabled one to scan from their computer. Mind you, this was in the infancy of the PC boom that started in the 80's. I can't recall who made it, or if it was software, hardware or a combination of both. I can't imagine not having any kind of hardware involved. Still, all in all, kind of a cool idea at that.

[DaveNF2G]

There has to be a physical receiver to convert the radio signals into something that can be used by a listener.

[SWCOScanner]

While there is nothing that will just use your PC as a scanner (no receiver built in), there are add-in receivers that are completely software controlled.

There's quite a selection made by WinRadio - look at their stuff here: http://www.winradio.com/home/receivers.htm

Icom makes this one: http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/pcr1500/

Those are the ones I know of - some of them even are capable of decoding P25 digital. I have never seen one in use, tho, so I can't say anything there.