Icecast/Oddcast/Talkgroup Monitor Tutorial

NYRHKY94 · #1 (**permalink**) 04-08-2008, 01:35 PM

Hello:

I decided to put together a self-guided tutorial that would help scanner enthusiasts get their live feed up and running with the following "free" combination: Icecast, Oddcast & Talkgroup Monitor.

When I first got started with trying to put a live feed up, it took alot of research and help from others before I could successfully stream my scanner. The tutorial from Scott at scancapecod.us was a big help to me back then. That's also where I first learned about Gordon Edwards and his terrific Talkgroup Monitor software.

While the scancapecod tutorial was very helpful, I always thought it would be good to have another one geared toward the Icecast/Oddcast/TGM combination for the entry level scanner enthusiast looking to do their first live stream. You can download the tutorial at the following link: http://download.yousendit.com/78053EF01D8B8FA3

The tutorial is intended to only be a “guide”. As such, it will also be a work in progress as additional feedback & input is received. I hope you find it helpful in getting your feed up and running!

Fire822 · #2 (**permalink**) 04-08-2008, 02:33 PM

I have also found the using TeamSpeak with http://www.incidentbroadcast.com/ is alot easier setup and you also have acess to other feed's to listen to. All the setup instructions are on the left hand side of
http://www.incidentbroadcast.com/
under IBN Teamspeak Info.

73cuda · #3 (**permalink**) 04-08-2008, 04:53 PM

That is really kind of you to make this available to all of us, I'm sure it did take allot of time and effort, thank you.

I'm going to read it tonight. I'm using this same setup and it works flawlessly with winamp on my laptop but on my PC (different one than the server PC) winamp keeps stopping and saying "buffering 0%", same version of winamp and all settings are exactly the same as my laptop with the exception of I have oddcast in winamp on my laptop but not on the other PC.

So it will be interesting to see how you say to do the setup and hopefully I'll find some mistake (s) I've made.

Thank you very much again !

73

BTW: The H*** with simplecast for 140.00 !!!!

brandon · #4 (**permalink**) 04-08-2008, 04:59 PM

Outstanding tutorial! I'm glad others agree that feeds with alpha tags are the only way to go when it comes to setting up a multi-agency feed.

w2lie · #5 (**permalink**) 04-08-2008, 08:54 PM

I have been using the Icecast / Oddcast / Trunk Group Monitor (And also the Icecast / Simplecast / Trunk Group Monitor) method for the past two years...

Your tutorial is great, but you should expand it a bit to show the installation on the Oddcast client with mp3 support.

Here is my "dirty" tutorial and you can see how I explained the Oddcast Installation process.

If had feedback from a few people who seem to forget about the mp3 dll files, and that was the reason I put the how-to together....

I also have an "easier to read" version which I send out to users that would like to host through me.. Its basically the same how-to, but with out the icecast mess

Mike - maybe we can put both of our documents together and get one nice install doc out of it. I know mine needs a rewrite - and if I rewrote the doc, it wouldn't be much different than yours anyway... The other addition I wanted to make to my How-To was how to setup multiple feeds and multiple encoding off of one pc. I have a few locations feeding to me that are sending me more than 1 feed from a pc. (I currently have 2 remote PC's sending 2 -or more- streams back to my icecast server)

Can't forget to mention that with out the ScanGwinnett or Scancapecod sites, there wouldn't even be a live feed at my site!

73 - Phil

w2lie · #6 (**permalink**) 04-08-2008, 09:12 PM

Mike, Quickie on your manual

I've found that port 8080 isn't a safe port to use.. Some ISP's block port 8080. I've found that out the extreme hard way. I was setting up a new pc, and decided to leave the existing feed running on port 8000, and to beta test the new pc using port 8080. I couldn't connect to my new pc no matter how hard I tried. I even went as far as reformatting and installing XP from scratch. Once I changed to a lower 8000 address, I was fine... Like I said - it was the hard way

Second, It looks like your Icecast is set for port 8080, but your encoders are set for 8000. I always made my encoders match my icecast port. I don't think the encoders will connect to icecast if the ports don't match. I haven't tried it, but I may be wrong.

Thanks again!
Phil

gator · #7 (**permalink**) 04-08-2008, 09:54 PM

where do I find oddcast and what is the name of the download?

pogbobo · #8 (**permalink**) 04-08-2008, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gator

where do I find oddcast and what is the name of the download?

http://www.oddsock.org/tools/oddcastv3/

and get the Standalone version ...

ICP963 · #9 (**permalink**) 04-20-2008, 04:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fire822

I have also found the using TeamSpeak with http://www.incidentbroadcast.com/ is alot easier setup and you also have acess to other feed's to listen to. All the setup instructions are on the left hand side of
http://www.incidentbroadcast.com/
under IBN Teamspeak Info.

Take a look at the way www.ScanGeorgia.com is setup. With his webplayer you can switch feeds quickly and Gordon has done a fantastic job in setting up his servers. He can set up a scan site for you and he is VERY helpful getting things going.

Teamspeak is an awesome program, but its lack of alphatags makes it impossible to know what channel you are listening to. You know the area, but not the agency and channel.

NYRHKY94 · #10 (**permalink**) 04-20-2008, 11:03 AM

ICP963:

I agree. Even though I wrote up this tutorial for myself & others as a stream training guide of sorts, my "preferred" choice for streaming is using Gordon's web site hosting method. I moved all 4 of my streams over to www.scannewhampshire.com with Gordon's wonderful assistance.

Scan-Denver · #11 (**permalink**) 04-20-2008, 11:09 AM

If you are using a Uniden scanner and have it connected to your computer using one of the various scanner controlling software packages, you can use the encoder's channel tag capture process to stream the channel tags along with the audio.

Just another alternative to using the icecast method for channel tags.

You can see my feed on Gordon's server at http://scancolorado.com and clicking on the Denver Police / Fire / EMS link - make sure you select the Winamp player at the bottom and have winamp installed on your machine to see the channel tags.