The feed for the Sarasota County Police and Fire and the Charlotte County Police and Fire has been offline for two days. The only information that has been shared is that Broadcastify is aware of the situation. There was a message from the feed provider with his cash app information asking people to donate. This is all new to me. Is there only one person who provides the feed for each area? Are there backup people who will pick up the slack, or are we just dependent on this one person, and whether or not they feel like providing the feed? Has this situation ever happened to anyone else?
Scanner offline for 2 days
- Thread starter regalsmom
- Start date
Feed providers are volunteers, who dedicate their time and equipment to make this happen. In most areas there is only one feeder so not to duplicate feeds and to limit bandwidth used by RR/Broadcastify.
See Why is this feed offline? Why did a feed get deleted? How do I report a problem?
This is the advantage of having your own scanner. Not dependent on your internet, someone else to run their scanner, computer and Internet all day long. I'm sure their electric bills are higher as well.
These are people who provide a service free of charge.
Other advantage of having your own is you can tune in what you want and tune in even more than online can provide. Lockout or stay on an important call, you are in control.
See Law Enforcement Feeds - TOS Clarifications
Yes I get the cost of a scanner, but you do get more. Also I see your a premium subscriber so you can use software to download and then into a scanner.
This is the advantage of having your own scanner. Not dependent on your internet, someone else to run their scanner, computer and Internet all day long. I'm sure their electric bills are higher as well.
These are people who provide a service free of charge.
Other advantage of having your own is you can tune in what you want and tune in even more than online can provide. Lockout or stay on an important call, you are in control.
See Law Enforcement Feeds - TOS Clarifications
Yes I get the cost of a scanner, but you do get more. Also I see your a premium subscriber so you can use software to download and then into a scanner.
Generally speaking there's only one person running a feed, so listeners to that feed are dependent on that one person, their scanner and computer, their electricity, their internet service, and yes, whether or not they feel like providing the feed. Because the provider apparently made Broadcastify aware of the situation and is asking for donations, it sounds to me like they do want to keep providing the feeds, but may have fallen on hard times. They may have had a computer or scanner failure and may not have the money to buy new equipment, or may have gotten behind on bills and had their internet cut off. In theory a feed provider could try to work something out with a friend to temporarily run the feed(s), but finding someone else who's willing to keep their computer and scanner(s) running all day and night without compensation is, well, not easy.
I actually had an idea to help with that last part. You could go the route that some ADS-B website providers do, and sell/give away self contained streaming devices. Essentially some SDRs and a raspberry pi type computer in a box that just needs power and a network connection to get started. Have a simple web interface and it’s good to go.
n0esc
Feed Provider
ADSB is "easier" to do that with since it is a singular frequency. Two if you account for UAT for GA aircraft, but for the most part when people think of ADSB or at least the websites that show all the pretty planes, they want to know whether it's a Delta or Southwest plane they saw fly by, and where people are going.
Having a pre-configured receiver for BCFY is a harder ask since there are dozens of popular system types, analog vs digital, countless frequencies... Someone could certainly make something, but given all of the variables, I think support would be a nightmare. RR / BCFY has a RPi image that is most of the way there, leaving the hardware gathering and final configuration to the user, and even the threads that pop up about getting it to work are frequently hair raising.
Broadcastify Raspberry Pi Feed Appliance Image
Broadcastify Raspberry Pi Feed Appliance Image BETA
www.broadcastify.com
That’s what the web interface is for. Much like programming software for scanners, you’d find the area you’re at, select the frequencies/talkgroups you want to feed, then hit import. The software on the device does the configuration of which SDR device will do what and how and then gets going.ADSB is "easier" to do that with since it is a singular frequency. Two if you account for UAT for GA aircraft, but for the most part when people think of ADSB or at least the websites that show all the pretty planes, they want to know whether it's a Delta or Southwest plane they saw fly by, and where people are going.
Having a pre-configured receiver for BCFY is a harder ask since there are dozens of popular system types, analog vs digital, countless frequencies... Someone could certainly make something, but given all of the variables, I think support would be a nightmare. RR / BCFY has a RPi image that is most of the way there, leaving the hardware gathering and final configuration to the user, and even the threads that pop up about getting it to work are frequently hair raising.
Broadcastify Raspberry Pi Feed Appliance Image
Broadcastify Raspberry Pi Feed Appliance Image BETA
n0esc
Feed Provider
Which is only the interface side of the problem. Again, certainly not insurmountable, but much higher friction that I feel like you may appreciate. Providing an "off the shelf" receiver, that is plug and play, would certainly lower the barrier to entry for some people. But you have the issue of making sure they explicitly understand which antenna or type may be required for their area (Anything from 40MHz out in California to 800MHz digital systems.
There are plenty of software programs, both for SDRs and more traditional scanners that grab frequencies, talkgroups, control channels, what-have-you from RR databases and plug them into your software. But IMO, the challenge with the SDR side of things, is that if you are trying to monitor an analog single frequency, that's one piece of software, trunked systems are another, etc etc. So again, not impossible by any means, it just means working with a lot of moving pieces, eiter opting to try and maintain many open source pieces of code and making sure they always play nice, or starting from scratch to create an entire OS more or less from scratch, but, and this could just be me and my own observations, the issue is always going to be how disparate the use cases are that make even attempting to maintain something like this a nightmare.
Another option is to start your own feed if you live in the area.
Yeah it is and they do complain. Had this happen a couple of times this past summer when feed went down due to power loss from storms that went through the area. FB groups were complaining what happened, etc. but I have had those who say thank you for what I do, so guess it pans out.
I believe that is due to the misconception by many listeners that the feeds are provided directly by Broadcastify as a commercial service, rather than volunteers.
Easier said than done. I used to run feeds, had everything running fine, and with no changes the volume was bad, the software glitched, hardware failed or something else happened. It takes a lot more effort to properly maintain than just plug and play.
I know, I run 3 feeds the old fashioned way. I think it could be done but I also know it would be a lot of work. Though once the OS image is setup by the developers, you more or less need to not make changes to any of the program versions, at least by the end users. The device would need to be fairly locked down to maintain stability.
I've been providing back up for the three feeds they had. I separated them out more. Been told the quality is higher and I broadcast the Alpha tags. It is amazing what can be done with two SDR Tuners I had for ADBS when I had a work project that needed access to sites.
Now I'm in a cross hair. People on-line in our local groups have said my feed is better, provides more (staying in the TOS), has a clearer sound and I have the Alpha Tags. The OG owner asked me to take my feed down for one of the three. I listened to their feed and was given a headache. I hate to duplicate efforts but I think if my is clean and clear vs. Static and "hmmmm" in silent times, it provides a better service.
There are 2 feeds here, mine being one of them. Don't know which is better or worse, let the users decide as far as I am concerned. Although, the other feed provides certain things which I wouldn't broadcast per TOS. So mine says BROADCAST LOCKOUT for those TGs
n0esc
Feed Provider
If you provide at least something different, being as you said you have "more" then I would politely or less so depending on the circumstances tell the person asking to pound sand. The original feeder is free to turn their system back on at any point, or if they don't get it done in time and it drops off, they can re-apply at any point.
Assuming this is the same county OP mentioned, I guess it could be considered a duplicate of at least the LE feed since both appear to have the same talkgroups. I'd leave that up to BCFY admins to decide. Obviously they approved your application for the interim feed.
There are no real bonus points for most talkgroups fed or feeds provided. A feed is a feed, and the free premium membership is the same for everyone.
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