What does a great scanner feed consist of?
It starts with great equipment and a knowledgeable operator, that can make the most of this equipment. Able to bring you (the listener) an enjoyable experience that you will want to come back to again and again.This is my mission with this feed. Now keep in mind, this is a hobby project and things will take time to work out the bugs as I find time and ambition. After reading a little bit on broadcastify's website and applying my own experience, I have concluded: With this, "less is more". At least, as it pertains to the scan program I plan airing. How so you may ask? I imagine, most of you want a feed that sounds good (duh), this means: Not full of hiss and hum like many other feeds out there. It needs to be clear and loud. However, not so loud that it clips your devices speaker anytime you turn it up, beyond a whisper. It needs to have the channel and frequency displayed on your app. We want to know what we are listening to after all right? Right. As for the scanner buffs out there: What's a scanner without a display? doesn't feel right...Viva la Alpha tags!! As for the general public, they want a fast and informative scan setup that covers all "Hot" channels. In Kingman's case this means the big 4 hands down. What are those big 4? They are: Kingman City Police dispatch, Mohave County Sheriff Dispatch, Arizona Highway Patrol DPS Dispatch and Alarm Dispatch, which is the Fire and Medical of Kingman. Perhaps some Wildland Fire (BLM) stuff for good measure. That's really about it. we are so blessed that we have a Scanner friendly public safety infrastructure, perhaps the only good thing that comes from underfunded agencies.....just sayin. I could put hundreds of channels more, however that will detract from the overall usefulness and therfore the purpose of this feed. Additionally, some stuff like tac channels aren't allowed on broadcastify and I get why. So for the "Techno-Nerds" like me, whats under the hood? What have I decided on, equipment wise? What's needed to make this broadcast stand out?
First off, we need a solid Internet connection! In my case this is Starlink. I have the fast service. This internet is totally independent of the local infrastructure and subsequently has almost zero downtime. Check!
Then comes the computer. I am using an older Acer A15 laptop with a upgraded solid state drive to minimize failure. Not a powerhouse but it will more than suffice.
Next comes the pc to radio interfacing. Instead of just hooking a patch cable from the PC MIC to the scanner, which would give bad results, I opted for the Signalink USB Radio to PC interface that is immensely popular in Amateur (HAM) Radio. This holds several advantages: The device is it's own self contained unit thatplugs to USB. It features has external gain control knobs and most importantly, it electrically isolates the Scanner from the Computer, eliminating all hiss and hums we are so familiar with.
Next we have the Scanner itself: I am using the excellent Uniden BCT-15X. This represents hands down the best value for the money, when it comes to analog only scanners. It has a rich array of features, absolutely everything needed for a killer scanner feed, at a great pricepoint! These are built with quality. I have this scanner connected to the PC with it's programming cable, in order to feed the channel information to broadcastify.
Last but not least lets talk antenna and coax cable. This is a biggie (pun intended). Nothing is more annoying, than a scatchy signal that sounds like it got pulled out of someones A#$....No rabbit ears here please. I played with several ideas: From ground plane antennas, to discones to what-not...I figured I'd use what i have on hand. I decided on a monster "HYGain VB214FM" 14 element Yagi (beam antenna) tuned to around 150 Mhz .Mounted at 20 feet above the ground. This is overkill, I know.... Then again, there is no such thing as overkill... BAHAHA!! The coaxial is LMR400, which is....short of Heliax hardline anyway, the best thing the normal consumer can get their grabby hands on...Loss per foot is extremely minimal.
So there you have it: That's my take on a near perfect setup, at least on a workin man's budget. It's so awesome that we have platforms likethis and that this is actually legal to do. Thus making it possible, that I can share it with you fine folks out there. Enjoy my feed and "Scan on Kingman!"
