STARTER KIT - LIVE STREAMING

[KoruII]

I am new to purchasing scanner equipment but an avid listener to the iPhone Scanner Radio application. Several months ago my hometown (Baltimore, MD) Police radio broadcast went and remains offline. I believe I read that the provider has moved out of the area and it appears no one is able/willing to fill the void. I would like to take this project on but could use some professional advice on equipment and software to buy.

SCANNER: Realizing the sole purpose for this equipment is to sit in a room and monitor/broadcast approximately 9 frequencies (Police District) what scanner would you recommend?

SOFTWARE: If approved I would like to park these transmissions on Broadcastify so they can be used on the Scanner Radio Application.

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

 

[KoruII]

Just to add context to my original request...

I think there is value in having the general public experience the trials and tribulations of our law enforcement officers. How they are being used to address societal problems previously not within the purview of "law enforcement" agencies. For example, a parent complaining their child won't listen OR a request to remove a homeless person because someone feels they create an eyesore OR a teenager overdosing on opioids OR an adult having a mental health crisis. We ask our officers to do a lot, to include protecting life and property, and give them little to no resources to accomplish this. The Baltimore Police Department (as an example) is grossly understaffed, using 20th-century technology, and has one of the highest murder rates. In my humble opinion allowing the general public to do an audible "ride-along" will increase awareness of these issues and hopefully promote meaningful support for their mission. I've heard a lot of Police Commissioner's, Chief's, and City Council Representatives promote police scanning as a mechanism of transparency which contributes to community support.

I also recognize this opinion is not shared by all (i.e., the response to my post that was deleted) and the disclosure of Police tactics, techniques, and procedures via radio traffic can be harmful if not deadly. To that, I can simply say unless an agency encrypts their transmission it is publicly available whether we like it or not. However, most, if not all, modern police departments know this and use alternate channels (i.e., cellphone, encrypted channels, digital messaging, etc.) for sensitive communications. If encrypted communication is a goal then an argument can be made that public scanning is a mechanism to get there (squeaky wheel theory).

I am perched extremely high on my soapbox right now and for that, I apologize. However, I wanted to clarify there is more than simple entertainment value to this request. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[krokus]

I am new to purchasing scanner equipment but an avid listener to the iPhone Scanner Radio application. Several months ago my hometown (Baltimore, MD) Police radio broadcast went and remains offline. I believe I read that the provider has moved out of the area and it appears no one is able/willing to fill the void. I would like to take this project on but could use some professional advice on equipment and software to buy.

SCANNER: Realizing the sole purpose for this equipment is to sit in a room and monitor/broadcast approximately 9 frequencies (Police District) what scanner would you recommend?

SOFTWARE: If approved I would like to park these transmissions on Broadcastify so they can be used on the Scanner Radio Application.

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

You will need a digital trunking scanner. They are using a P25 digital system, not discrete channels.

That can be done with a purchased scanner, or with a computer and a couple, or more, USB SDR sticks.

The software would depend on which computer you decide to use to feed the audio to the server. Shoutcast and Icecast are two common options.

What sort of budget did you have in mind?

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[KoruII]

Thank you.

My budget has some flex in it. Maybe around $300 for the scanner?

 

[mule1075]

Shoutcast and Icecast are two common options.

Radiofeed and Scannercast are easier to set up in my opinion.

 

[krokus]

Thank you.

My budget has some flex in it. Maybe around $300 for the scanner?

You can find some used ones for that price.

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[scanner8143]

I Liked RadioFeed, but I registered ProScan from the same author, it has many more features and it's only $50.00.

 

[mule1075]

I Liked RadioFeed, but I registered ProScan from the same author, it has many more features and it's only $50.00.

Indeed it does but if you don't need all the features radiofeed is perfect. I use both.

 

[NYRHKY94]

Once you have your radio in hand, the link below will help guide you with everything you need to know to become a feed provider on Broadcastify, along with instructions on how to ensure the audio sounds good for your listeners:

Becoming a Feed Provider

FYI - I strongly prefer RadioFeed for my 2 Broadcastify feeds. It's free and can be downloaded from the ProScan web site: ProScan

 

[KoruII]

First, I appreciate the help with this. Taking everything you wrote onboard and feel I have a great starting point for my setup. To close this thread out does anyone have an option or experience with these two units:

- Uniden BCD536HP
- Whistler TRX-2

I believe they both capture P25 and seem reasonably priced, considering.


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[NYRHKY94]

I have the BCD536HP and use ProScan Radio Feed to provide a feed using WiFi. As posted here in other threads, using the WiFi functionality of the 536HP for a feed produces exceptionally clear audio due to the absence of audio cables.

 

[ke0eyh]

If you have a dual core PC you can do this for under $100, I recommend Linux but it also works on Windows

SDRTrunk -
network | John's Musings(okay-$50
DSheirer/sdrtrunk

RTL-SDR
https://ranous.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/rtl-sdr4linux_quickstartv2-18.pdf

 

[AtlasFBG2]

If you have a dual core PC you can do this for under $100, I recommend Linux but it also works on Windows

SDRTrunk -
network | John's Musings(okay-$50
DSheirer/sdrtrunk

RTL-SDR
https://ranous.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/rtl-sdr4linux_quickstartv2-18.pdf

Can this setup be used to limit the broadcast to certain talkgroups? I looked at the links but looks to me like it will broadcast everything.

 

[krokus]

Can this setup be used to limit the broadcast to certain talkgroups? I looked at the links but looks to me like it will broadcast everything.

The software streams whatever is coming from the scanner. If you want to monitor TG that are not streamed, they will have to be on a different scanner.

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[AtlasFBG2]

The software streams whatever is coming from the scanner. If you want to monitor TG that are not streamed, they will have to be on a different scanner.

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I was asking about the SDR setup that was linked above. not a scanner

 

[ke0eyh]

Yes you can stream any talk group you want to any feed you want. Check out the SDRTrunk on Google groups. SDRTrunk is amazing, I've successfully installed it on 4 different computers all running Linux Mint and it has run flawlessly. It works on Windows too but I only use Linux now so can't advise you on that install but everyone I've read about who was using Windows loved it too!

 

[ke0eyh]

Atlas I messaged you a 60 second YouTube video I just took of my set up that might give you a clearer idea of streaming multiple feed directly from SDRTrunk using no physical scanner just a couple RTL-SDR dongles. Hope this helps.

Added as and edit to my post:

In the video it may look like you need a dongle for each feed. That is not the case. As long as the talk group frequencies are within the spread of the dongles coverage you need only 1 which is the case here where I live. I own 4 of them and am using 2 to give me extra frequency spread which I don't actually need.

 

[krokus]

I was asking about the SDR setup that was linked above. not a scanner

The source is irrelevant, the software streams whatever is sent to it. So a separate scanning setup is needed to listen to things not being streamed. Based on what is said about SDRTrunk, it might be able to be your streaming scanner.

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