Wow! This sucks!
I mean, dangit Bobby...
(No reference to anyone named Robert here, just a gratuitous "King of the Hill" reference...)
I've been a feed provider for a while now. I started because I couldn't run my computer and listen to the scanner at the same time; the computer was throwing some crazy RF and it overloaded the scanner. I was able to run a scanner in my office at work, and subsequently feed it through an older computer there. The results were good because that put the scanner in the middle of town for good reception; then , I could listen, on my home computer.
Later came the new Narrow Band compliance stuff. Not everybody upgraded at the same time. This produced an impossible volume setting situation; some stations became very quiet while others remained as loud as ever. I even got an email from RR because they thought my volume was too quiet... Funny, even today there are STILL some agencies/offices/units that are operating non-compliant radios around here...
In 2011, a series of tornadoes decimated part of the county; we NEVER get tornadoes here. My little scanner feed was a big hit! a whole lot of people were using it, and some were government agencies because there radios weren't doing the job. It was really nice to offer something back to the community.
Then the dreadful day came when my job kicked me to the curb. I'm not sure if it was because I didn't play golf, didn't drink beer, didn't watch college football, didn't have tatoos, didn't own a motorcycle, didn't lie, didn't cheat, didn't steel, or a particular combination, or even all of the aforementioned, but I was done. And, my scanner feed receive/broadcast site was now gone too.
I lamented for a while and decided to try to bring the feed back online at the house. It took some finagling, but I got it going. It started to evolve as I strove to provide a "quality feed". The feed was awarded its very own computer dedicated solely to the feed itself. For fun, to be as "hi-tech", "low budget", and redneck as I could get, I added a video feed too
2guntom's Links: Greeneville, Greene Co. Police Fire & EMS
This was for my own personal satisfaction; this way I could see what was playing on the scanner behind me without getting up since the scanner in front of me was monitoring other stuff.
Then, I heard the city PD's radios being "worked on". All the sudden the audio quality went WAY down, and city fire did too. The signal quality was so bad that what I could hear, I heard officers and dispatch complaining that they couldn't understand each other.
I did some investigating with a handheld and sampled the quality as I drove around town. IN TOWN was fine, but when I got to the extremes, quality faded quickly. Strangely enough, the very same handheld, inside a house, in the southern part of the county picked up fine. I reside in the northern part of the county, and I should add I am about 10 MILES from the pd and fire transmitters.
This is TN, and there is some terrain issues. But, it did work well, then it didn't. The leaves are not in the trees yet, but when they are, it will get worse (you flat-landers won't understand...)
I moved my antenna, and subsequently broke it. How somebody could make something that cheap... but it turned good because I just couldn't throw it away- I had to "make it" into something usable which got me into making my own antennas
But, before that, I bought 2 new antennas. And, city pd has "worked on" their radios again, once or twice. The reception is marginal.
I have conducted several different experiments with several different radios and different antennas. My largest antenna now receives another police department on that frequency; I have to use the PL tone on my scanner to eliminate it. The signal quality is still questionable.
After reading this thread, it makes me wonder if I have created this problem. That paranoid nerve that runs up through my leg, the one that makes my knee jerk sometimes...
I remember when there was that "cell phone gun" hoax 10 years ago. City PD was more worried about phones than they were real weapons... That's the mentality that makes this thread a reality. A little mis-information, and everybody's fun gets ruined.
My feed is well known.
I hate the thought of my hobby being ruined; I just hate it.
I've got 13 scanners and I'm getting ready to make some more antennas to pull in some different signals...
I'm wondering if I can reverse or possibly delay the inevitable by removing LE from my feed?
Or maybe removing the city fire and PD from my feed?
I've already lost HP because of that new system. I wish I would have realized the extent of the change; I would have bought different scanners a month ago...
Thanks to Chad, even though it's bad news...