Accessible Police Scanner App for Windows

[ComputerRob]

Hi. I am currently developing a Windows-based application that is accessible to screen reader users. It will allow blind and visually impaired users the ability to listen to all Broadcastify feeds without having to go to the Broadcastify website. It will have a menu bar, full keyboard navigation, and keyboard shortcuts, for things like playing and stopping feeds. In the future, you will also be able to do things like programming various police scanners, and looking up scanner frequencies, using an accessible, clean interface. I've asked for a Broadcastify API key from support, but they aren't offering any at this time. I explained to them what I planned to do and I have been working at this for days. I've had a lot of errors building this, and I was wondering, if I can't get a key, if somebody already has a key, they can start forking a version of the app? I am making this free and open-source on GitHub. I don't know anything about programming, or much about GitHub, so I only have a ReadMe up there. I'm not trying to be difficult, but I'd like to get this out, because for me, as a blind user, using Broadcastify with a screen reader can be a little tricky. If anyone can get back to me on this, I'd really appreciate it. You can find my GitHub page at GitHub - RobFarabaugh/9-1-1-Scanner-Suite: This is an accessible police scanner application where you can listen to all Broadcastify feeds, as well as manage various scanner tasks, including programming various police scanners, and looking up scanner frequencies.. Thanks for reading this, and I look forward to reading the comments.

 

[ComputerRob]

There's also a Blind Digital Scanner users group on groups.io. They are looking for sighted individuals to help them make scanners more accessible to blind people. You can find them at bdigitalscan groups.io Group. Thanks.

 

[ComputerRob]

Hi @blantonl, As you know, I'm trying to develop an accessible police scanner app for Windows that works well with screen readers. The Broadcastify website can be a little tricky for a blind person who uses a screen reader to get around. I have developed this on Github and I think it would be a huge benefit for the blindness community. I've been interested in radio scanning pretty much since I was 6 or 7 and I have been wanting an app for Windows. I bought an app a long time ago that would do the same thing my app will do, like selecting a feed in the System Tray, but I never got it in my email. It was a total waste of money. It was called PC police Scanner. The site isn't up anymore, and there's really no scanner app that has all keyboard access and that will do what my app will do. Not only will you be able to listen to all Broadcastify feeds, but you will be able to program various police scanners and also look up scanner frequencies from within the app using the RR Database API. This would really mean a great deal if I got an Audio Catalog API key, so I can complete this. I don't even have an installer file up yet, and I don't know anything about computer programming. I just programmed it with ChatGPT and Copilot. So, if you'l reconsider this, I'd really appreciate it. You can also find me on a group on groups.io which is called Blind Digital Scanner Users. The groups website is bdigitalscan groups.io Group. My project page is at GitHub - RobFarabaugh/9-1-1-Scanner-Suite: This is an accessible police scanner application where you can listen to all Broadcastify feeds, as well as manage various scanner tasks, including programming various police scanners, and looking up scanner frequencies.. I'd invite you to work on the code. If you're familiar wit C# programming, the code is up there. Thanks a lot for reading this. I'd like to make this more accessible for everyone.

 

[BinaryMode]

I wouldn't expect people to compile the code themselves... I never do. Planning to release a binary?

 

[saioke]

I enjoy using Rdio-Scanner, but I haven't been able to get it to work properly unless I use Trunking Recorder to upload my calls coming in from DSD+ Fast Lane. I don't think it's ideal to run Trunking Recorder just for that purpose though. For one, it uses 100+mb ram and on Windows 11 you need all that you can get. For another, I don't like having another program sitting in the task bar. Also, trunking recorder doesn't seem to upload audio calls unless they're in .mp3 format.

I would really like to get Rdio-Scanner working so I don't have to use Trunking Recorder. In the Rdio-Scanner admin panel, I created a dirwatch, linked my dsd+ folder, using .wav extension. have it set so that audio files to go to a system, talkgroup is left blank because well, I don't want all talkgroups to show as one particular talkgroup. "type" is set to "DSD+ Fast Lane".

Okay, so setup there is done, so I should be receiving calls, right? Nope. "Incomplete call data - Talkgroup" appears in the rdio-scanner cmd terminal. Now, if I disable "add talkgroup aliases to per-call file names" and "Add radio aliases to per-call file names" under the "output" tab in DSD+ Fast Lane, it will actually begin to upload calls... To another system with a 840 ID, not my original one with id 120. Also, calls will upload without talkgroup information. Okay, that's fine. I'll just add/edit the talkgroups I want manually in this new 840 system created by rdio-scanner. Getting somewhere!

Everything appears to work now, but NOW I have an issue where occasionally, calls will fail to upload with the "no talkgroup" error again, especially if they're 3 seconds long or below. I can go to the dsd+ recordings folder to find that yes, they exist, and rdio-scanner didn't import/delete them like it's supposed to. Some are choppy, which is understandable. I don't think Trunking Recorder will upload call recordings if they're choppy either. But, a few had clear voices so I'm not so sure that it should be happening.

For example:

Talkgroup 51540 is a sucess, with rdio-scanner claiming such: "newcall: system=840 talkgroup=51540 file=213032_001_P25_BEE00.348-3.79_GC_51540_0.wav success"

But next, the same talkgroup will speak a reply, following with the error "dirwatch.ingest: no talkgroup, C:\Users\blah\OneDrive\Desktop\dsd+\1R-Record\20250609\213025_002_P25_BEE00.348-3.79_PC_0_0.wavnotifications"

So, the one that says "no talkgroup" doesn't even have the talkgroup ID listed in the .wav file. But, the one above it does. That seems to be the issue. Any ideas why DSD+ wouldn't include the talkgroup ID in "some" audio recordings? I feel like this issue could be fixed if Rdio-Scanner allowed you to upload calls with the TG and Radio Aliases enabled in DSD+. But for some reason, only Trunking Recorder has the ability to upload calls that contain those options. That being said, I don't recall Trunking Recorder ever failing to upload any calls because the call had missing metadata information?

Perhaps this could be fixed with a rdio-scanner custom mask, but I wouldn't know where to begin with that. Anyone have this issue? Maybe you fixed it with a custom mask that I can copy?

 

[saioke]

After doing some more research and despite some of these call recordings seem clear to understand, I believe that they're failing to be ingested because of poor decoding/errors detected in the voice comms, which causes the .wav file DSD+ generates to save without proper metadata, so Rdio-Scanner sees them and says "hey, this recording has no talkgroup."

I've been having some poor signals this past week due to the weather. That's likely why. Ultimately, I think Rdio-Scanner and DSD+ is working fine after all. But I still have no explanation as to why sometimes Rdio-scanner will upload a call and that call will show as the talkgroup ID despite having the talkgroup information in rdio-scanner. But, this happens rarely. Could maybe also be due to detected errors during decode I'm going to guess.

 

[ComputerRob]

Hi. I am currently developing a Windows-based application that is accessible to screen reader users. It will allow blind and visually impaired users the ability to listen to all Broadcastify feeds without having to go to the Broadcastify website. It will have a menu bar, full keyboard navigation, and keyboard shortcuts, for things like playing and stopping feeds. In the future, you will also be able to do things like programming various police scanners, and looking up scanner frequencies, using an accessible, clean interface. I've asked for a Broadcastify API key from support, but they aren't offering any at this time. I explained to them what I planned to do and I have been working at this for days. I've had a lot of errors building this, and I was wondering, if I can't get a key, if somebody already has a key, they can start forking a version of the app? I am making this free and open-source on GitHub. I don't know anything about programming, or much about GitHub, so I only have a ReadMe up there. I'm not trying to be difficult, but I'd like to get this out, because for me, as a blind user, using Broadcastify with a screen reader can be a little tricky. If anyone can get back to me on this, I'd really appreciate it. You can find my GitHub page at GitHub - RobFarabaugh/9-1-1-Scanner-Suite: This is an accessible police scanner application where you can listen to all Broadcastify feeds, as well as manage various scanner tasks, including programming various police scanners, and looking up scanner frequencies.. Thanks for reading this, and I look forward to reading the comments.

Does anyone have any computer programming experience so I can get this finished? Thanks.

 

[ComputerRob]

Hi everyone—just checking back in. I'm still looking for some help with this accessible scanner app for Windows.
It's open-source, written in C#, and meant for blind users using screen readers.
I’m especially trying to connect with anyone who’s worked with Broadcastify’s API or who can help make the UI or installer more polished.
Any tips or suggestions would mean a lot—thanks in advance!


GitHub: GitHub - RobFarabaugh/9-1-1-Scanner-Suite: This is an accessible police scanner application where you can listen to all Broadcastify feeds, as well as manage various scanner tasks, including programming various police scanners, and looking up scanner frequencies.. Right now, I am working on a Browse By State Or Country dialog, but I cannot seem to get it to activate. I've been doing this with ChatGPT and it has been giving me code to download, but I have no idea whatsoever about Windows programming or C#. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[ComputerRob]

Thanks