Police Scanner App?

[techguru]

Why not just turn on the portable???

Well maybe the app is the next best thing to using the actual radio to see whether you have and APB on you.

Don't know about your state, but here, it is illegal to have a portable scanner on in your vehicle unless you are with law enforcement or fire and rescue. (of course, probably illegal to be using this app in the car too, but I would bet that the letter of the law specifically says scanner and doesn't say anything about computing devices streaming content.....).

That, and I carry enough junk around. I don't' need a scanner too if my phone can do it for me.



Alan

 

[rjm5151]

anything around New Haven CT....06410....

before i buy

 

[Mikeharoldl]

policestream is awesome!!!!!!!!:rating09: kills battery pretty fast thow but that was expected

 

[christim]

anything around New Haven CT....06410....

before i buy

Remember, you can buy and return for a refund within 24 hours, if not happy for any reason at all, for all apps.

 

[techguru]

anything around New Haven CT....06410....

before i buy

The stream shows New Haven County Fire DEpartments (and some police). Not sure what that means for police traffic. It also has Connecticut State Police.

Alan

 

[KK6PD]

Why not just turn on the portable???

Well maybe the app is the next best thing to using the actual radio to see whether you have and APB on you.

Don't know about your state, but here, it is illegal to have a portable scanner on in your vehicle unless you are with law enforcement or fire and rescue. (of course, probably illegal to be using this app in the car too, but I would bet that the letter of the law specifically says scanner and doesn't say anything about computing devices streaming content.....).

That, and I carry enough junk around. I don't' need a scanner too if my phone can do it for me.



Alan

Here in California, if you hold a VALID Amateur Radio license, you can have a scanner in your car!!!

73 de Pat KK6PD

I do LOVE the App, all Los Angeles major agencies are covered!!

 

[coondogg97]

There have been a ton of updates to this app. Top 30 feature is great! And it's great to have bookmarks.

 

[snowman]

is there a list anywhere of cities covered, I looked and couldn't find any?

 

[bhawks]

this is awesome, probably my favorite app. I get the local police at my campus and its fun to listen in when im bored. Anyone know how close these streams are to "real time?" or is there a significant delay?

 

[Technoman]

this is awesome, probably my favorite app. I get the local police at my campus and its fun to listen in when im bored. Anyone know how close these streams are to "real time?" or is there a significant delay?

My guess it would be very similar to the netcast Radio Stations. It can't be real time, and I imagine the minimum delay would have to be close to a minute.

 

[LuN3yDaV3]

I use DroidLive Lite. If you go to radioreference.com and go to their Live Audio page, you may find your area's police/fire scanner streams. When you find the stream you want, choose winamp as the player and the stream will automatically open in DroidLive. I tried creating favorites, but the streams change all the time so it wasn't connecting sometimes. Just bookmark the site and open from there. Oh and it doesn't work well with 3G, only wifi in my experience.

 

[christim]

I use DroidLive Lite. If you go to radioreference.com and go to their Live Audio page, you may find your area's police/fire scanner streams. When you find the stream you want, choose winamp as the player and the stream will automatically open in DroidLive. I tried creating favorites, but the streams change all the time so it wasn't connecting sometimes. Just bookmark the site and open from there. Oh and it doesn't work well with 3G, only wifi in my experience.

Thanks for the tip, works good for me. The "choose winamp" was the critical part of the instructions for me. Missed it the first pass through.

 

[TimChgo9]

Since I am a railroad photographer, an app that can get me RR radio feeds would be nice too....

 

[bbtkd]

I use DroidLive Lite. If you go to radioreference.com and go to their Live Audio page, you may find your area's police/fire scanner streams. When you find the stream you want, choose winamp as the player and the stream will automatically open in DroidLive. I tried creating favorites, but the streams change all the time so it wasn't connecting sometimes. Just bookmark the site and open from there. Oh and it doesn't work well with 3G, only wifi in my experience.

I'm a feed provider BTW - the reason the file changes is that they write the data to a logfile so you can go back a few days to listen to an event, and the changing filename is an artifact of that feature.

I also have to say that I'm glad to see everyone posting on this forum (so far) understands that Andrei has no control over the availability or quality of feeds. He gets lots of comments in the app store complaining about not having coverage in an area or about poor audio, but that's not in his control. There have been some issues with Policestream but he has been very responsive to my comments and suggestions. I'll gladly pay for an app that is continually improved.

In our area (South Dakota) all public service frequencies are on the statewide digital system so unlike analog where the scanners can be found used for under $100, the required digital scanners cost $300+ used. While I do have a handheld digital scanner, I am reluctant to tote around a $500 radio, risking theft or damage. With Policestream I always have a scanner since I always have my phone and since I run the feed, I control the programming and audio quality.

If there is no coverage (or lousy coverage/audio) in your area, consider being a feed provider. All you need is an appropriate scanner properly programmed, connected the the mic port on your PC and your PC and network connection needs to be up all the time. I use a BCD996T digital scanner but for analog you could use a BCT15. These scanners allow you to program them via serial port, which can also be used to feed the text tags to your computer. You can use cheaper analog scanners but you get what you pay for. Then you download a free program from radioreference - already configured by them. I have my PC and network gear on a UPS so power glitches don't take the feed down. The data rate is trivial so won't impact your surfing. I leave my scanner turned down most of the time since my scanner has "audio out" which is unaffected by the volume. Lastly, you need to adjust the "mic in" level on the PC to avoid overmodulation - a common problem on many feeds.

 

[christim]

Since I am a railroad photographer, an app that can get me RR radio feeds would be nice too....

Bouncing around the site I did find this feed: Palmer Railroads Live Scanner Audio Feed which covers "Palmer MA railroads: CSX, New England Central, Amtrak."
No idea if RR feeds exist for other areas. As suggested above by bbtkd, if those you hang out with are interested they can become feed providers which would benefit other RR hobbyists.

I know someone in my town with a scanner. I'll hit him up and see if he's interested because our city isn't on the list on this site.