How to use your computer as a digital police scanner
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- čas přidán 3. 06. 2024
- Did you know you could setup a digital scanner on your computer to listen to police, fire, EMS and more? In this video, I show you how to install the SDR Trunk software using an RTL-SDR.
DISCLAIMER
This video is not sponsored. The items in this video were purchased with my own money. Some links in the description are affiliate links which means I may receive a small commission should you buy anything through those links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
HARDWARE
RTL-SDR v3 w/antenna: amzn.to/3SmqWeJ
(if v3 is sold out try the v4 model below)
RTL-SDR v4 w/antenna: amzn.to/3TCra1T
SOFTWARE
SDR Trunk: github.com/DSheirer/sdrtrunk
RTL-SDR antenna guide: www.rtl-sdr.com/using-our-new...
CONNECT
Email (ham/tech/video): youtube@k9swx.com
Email (business inquiries): business@k9swx.com
Website: www.k9swx.com
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MAIL
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Stan Olson
PO Box 6721
Champaign, IL 61826-6721
USA
#k9swx #hamradio #policescanner
CHAPTERS
00:00 [Intro]
00:15 [What is a scanner?]
00:31 [Analog vs Digital]
01:39 [Why do I need a scanner?]
02:45 [How much is a scanner?]
04:03 [Is using a scanner legal?]
04:57 [Encryption]
05:34 [Hardware needed]
05:50 [RTL-SDR]
06:25 [SDRTrunk]
06:59 [RadioReference.com]
09:59 [SDRTrunk installation]
12:30 [Import frequencies via RadioReference]
14:59 [Listening to imported system]
15:38 [RTL-SDR antenna guide]
16:39 [Antenna adjustment]
17:35 [Multiple simultaneous signals]
18:05 [Record signals]
19:09 [Summary]
19:44 [Like and Subscribe!] - Věda a technologie
This was well produced and VERY helpful with the clear examples, thank you for taking the time to share this with us.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!
Thank you, for explaining so simply what Software Defined Radio is, and how to use it; I've been curious about it for a while! Very cool.
No problem. Thanks for watching!
Next time I have trouble sleeping I am going to play this video. Thank you!!!
Not the intended result of the video but as long as you are watching it that works for me. Thanks! :)
Great information. Thank you for making this excellent instruction.
Thanks for watching, glad it helped!
Well Done!! It's a pleasure to see content from Central IL. I'm in Springfield. 73 de N9RAN
Thanks!
I currently live in Dallas, but from Bloomington/Normal.
@@brad_neal Very cool! Small world.
I have a couple of digital desktop scanners plus a handheld. They are two Radio Shack and one Whistler TRX-2. The Whistler have both phase I and phase II P25. They all perform flawlessly. Both desktops are fed by a discone antenna in my attic. I also have a couple of Unidens but they are all analog. Thank for this post for all those that don't want to invest in a costly unit.
Very nice. Curious what you are using to feed all the scanners with one discone? Is it a basic splitter or do you have a multicoupler?
Outstanding presentation.
Thanks!
I have had scanning receivers back to early 1970's where an analog receiver
tuned the lo-hi vhf and uhf, and so on
over the years up to in 2018, I purchased the expensive Uniden
SDS-100 handheld, but a lot of the
Police are encrypted now, and only
receive EMS and Fire calls.
I did obtain a Uniden 885 Beartracker
which is digital, with an updatable
SD card from the computer, and has
GPS. With AM CB, no SSB, and the
NOAA weather frequencies. 😊
Yes it is interesting how things have changed over the years. I haven't yet picked up one of the newer Uniden scanners mainly because they're a bit expensive. While I enjoy using the SDRs on the computer, nothing beats a portable scanner. I have an older Radio Shack digital scanner (rebranded Whistler model I believe) that works pretty well for our local systems.
@@k9swx Thanks 😊 Yes, a portable scanner is useful, I had purchased the
Uniden SDS-100, when it debuted in
2018. While the basic price was about
$650.00, with accessory features and
other items, the total cost was about
$1000.00 As I stated, while it's a great
scanner, I decided to sell it on eBay
Last year, though at a lower price than
than I paid. The Uniden 885 Beartracker
base/mobile unit is less versatile at a
$400.00 price, it has digital scanning,
Police alert, AM CB and Weather.
My first portable scanner was an RCA
brand 4 channel crystal controlled model,
and in 1981, I obtained a Uniden 16
Channel synthesized portable model.
So helpful, thank you very much!
Glad it was helpful!
Yes the antenna is a dipole and is directional . :O) Firdt time I have seen a walkthrough on the setup and installation . Cool . :O)
Thanks for watching!
This is so cool!!!
Thank you
Glad you like it!
One of the BETTER vids I've seen on this. Great Job!!
A little hint, your antenna should be VERTICAL.
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
Yeah normally it would be but I was experimenting. :)
Thank you
Thank you for the vid.
No problem, glad to help!
I just use the 5-0 app. Worked for me for 10 years now. I have the pro version.
That works as long as there is someone streaming the system you want to listen to.
I was led to believe that a holder of a amateur radio license was legal to carry a scanner in a car period. Federal law supersedes state law in that case
I have heard something similar but can never find anything from official sources.
@@k9swx yeah everything with government rules and regs are so muddied and heard to understand.
It's legal to have one in your car UNLESS you intend to use it for illegal purposes (Use of a police scanner in the furtherance of a crime), or by state restriction. In other words if you have it to find out if the cop are coming while you rob the local liquor store, you can be charged for using it. Otherwise you have a right under the 1st Amendment AND The 1934 Communications Act to LISTEN to any frequency that you can receive.
STATE REGULATIONS: Only 5 states have restrictions on mobile scanner use.
Florida: Not allowed it UNLESS you are on an autohorized "crime watch", licensed security vehicle, full time news agent, OR you have a valid HAM License.
Indiana: Similar to Florida.
Kentucky: A bit more draconian. Unless the vehicle has government plates it's illegal. Even POLICE in their private vehicles ARE NOT authorized!! --It shall be unlawful for any car, automobile, or other vehicle other than one publicly owned and entitled to an official license plate issued by the state issuing a license for the car, to have, or be equipped with the sets or apparatus even though the car is owned by an officer.
New York: Requires a permit. (Just like EVERYTHING in New York!!)
Minnesota: Similar to Florida, EXCEPT for HAM operators. HAM operators who have been convicted of a crime are not allowed unless 10 years has passed since the end of their sentence.
AS ALWAYS, do your own research for your state!!
@@mikeh8416 there we go. Now we know. Appreciated sir
In the country where i live , it is illegal to use a police scanner , you can get UP to 2 years of imprisonment
Hi there! Good info. I'm from Danville, IL, and I saw your call sign on the SondeHub Tracker then saw it here. I have just a long-wire on my SDR now, I really need to build a special weather balloon and scanner antenna. Or maybe do what you did and just get one of those kits.
Nice to meet you. You can try it with a dual-band or 70cm ham antenna and see how it performs. Might work better than the long wire for 400-406 MHz.
@@k9swx Thanks! I just saw your video about that and the link to the antenna. I will have to get that ordered.
Thank you. I have some old radios around . Everything is trunked in Missouri’
Glad the video helped!
The best - by far - handheld scanner is the AOR DV10 , which has all- mode scanning capability. TETRA included , but a small payment is needed.
That looks like a nice one. It's definitely out of my price range but it would be interesting to compare to other scanners and SDRs to see where it stacks up.
Hi Stan - Thank you for doing this video. Very informative and clear. Did I understand correctly that the issue with using a single SDR where there are control frequencies and communication frequencies is the need to have enough bandwidth to cover the range of both? My situation is similar to yours where the combined range exceeds the 2.4 MHz bandwidth of the RTL-SDRs. Looking at specs I believe the Airspy Mini has a greater bandwidth and should cover the 2.85 MHz range that I need. Should that do the trick?
I'm seeing that the Airspy Mini does 6 MHz so you should be good there.
Just wait for Trunk-Recorder v5.0. That's going to be awesome.
I have not messed with that program but it sounds pretty cool. What features are coming in version 5?
As far as I can tell the only thing SDR Trunk is missing is Motorola SmartNet.
Very cool! Thanks for the video! Just ordered the V4 version on Amazon since the V3 was unavailable. Did your M1 Mac recognize the unit without any difficulty when you plugged it in? I have an M2 Macbook Pro, so I'm guessing the process will be the same on mine. I'll definitely peruse the user guide on the site and do my best to familiarize myself with things prior to setting up. I've just been using some Baofeng's every now and then to listen in on, but I'm guessing my local dispatch has upgraded things to digital within the past year or so, since I no longer hear highway patrol or the Sheriff. I do still get some EMS and local PD on the Baofeng's, but that's about it. Plus, it would be nice to hear multiple chatterings at the same time, so I'm looking forward to learning how to use the software with a substantially cheaper barrier to entry than one of the Uniden units. Hopefully it'll work out. Radio Reference still shows the old frequencies, but I'm wondering if I'm just not picking them up because they're digitized now. I'm still quite the noob at this and was happy when I was able to program those with the CHIRP software a couple years ago 🤣
I haven't tried the v4 version yet. You might check out this page for info about the v4.
www.rtl-sdr.com/v4/
What city/state are you in? They should show the trunked/digital systems on Radio Reference.
@@k9swx I'm in Cedar City, UT (Iron County). I actually just got the V4 in and have been doing my best to get the trunked frequencies to work, but I can't seem to make it work (they just show idle). I'm not sure what's up with them, or if they actually haven't transitioned to fully digital yet and those frequencies are just placeholders for when they upgrade (or encrypted?). I'm able to pick up the generic FM frequencies I've been able to get on the Baofeng's with the RTL-SDR on the computer, but the 700 and 800MHz frequencies listed on Radio Reference don't yield anything for me even when using the smaller antennas. I paid for the 180 day premium subscription for RR and imported everything using the SDR Trunk software and am almost positive I've got it set up right after a bit of trial and error. I'm kind of at a loss as I've been working on it for about 6-7 hours tonight without any success. I was definitely hoping it'd be a relatively simple plug and play after loading up all the profiles, but it's proving to be more complicated than I'd imagined. Here's a link to the RR page if you wanna take a look and tell me what you think. It lists two different system types on 2 separate pages and neither of them have worked for me. Here's the Motorola analog and APCO-25 link for Iron County: www.radioreference.com/db/sid/601 and here is the Project 25 Phase 2 link that pretty much only shows control channels for Iron County: www.radioreference.com/db/sid/12042 . I'm not entirely sure if I did something wrong or if they're just not working, period. If I can't get it to work with the RTL-SDR, I definitely don't want to invest money into a nice Uniden unit, especially with murmurings of likely encryption coming for most of the statewide agencies. Let me know if you have any ideas for me to try. Thanks!
@@k9swx Any ideas before I just give up on this entirely? 🤣
Wow best audio on you tube 0:33
Thanks!
lol luckily my town is cheap and they still use a NFM analog signal its between 460 to 475 MHz i dont remember exactly what the frequency but i do remember picking the police up some where between those frequencies
Very cool video. SDR is amazing.
I'd like to use SDR-Trunk in a vehicle to scan highway patrol and highway maintenance for accidents and such as I drive. My vehicle has an Android tablet (running SDR++) and I've set up RPis before. I'd like the SDR Trunk UI to be on the Android tablet if possible. Is there a way to set something like this up ? Can I feed the output of SDR++ to SDR-Trunk and control it from SDR++ ?
If I do get the hardware side set up, is there a way to have SDR Trunk download frequencies for various areas as I drive or do I have to do that before hand ? Could I just watch the waterfall and click on a signal I'm interested in as I drive and have SDR Trunk decode things without downloading frequencies ? Or could I download the frequencies for all jurisdictions across the country prior to leaving ?
Thanks for sharing the video.
Not sure that SDR Trunk will run on Android directly. Best option might be to put it on a Pi and then remote control it from the Android tablet with a VNC client.
As for the frequencies, I would just download them ahead of time as you can store multiple systems in there. Clicking on the waterfall of a trunked system might be a game of wack-a-mole since the frequencies change all the time. That's the purpose of using SDR Trunk as it uses the control channel to automatically choose the correct frequency.
I'm not sure what features SDR++ has on the Android version. It looks like the computer version has a scanner option built in that you might be able to put conventional frequencies in. I'll have to dig more into that program and make a separate video on it.
Just use an old laptop. That's how I do it.
@K9SWX Ham Radio. Do i have to put the antenna outside and to listen any emergency scanner don't i need to get a license?
It depends on how close you are to their transmitting tower. I'm not sure where you are located but normally you don't need a license to listen to a scanner. I've heard that some US states don't let you have a scanner in the car unless you are a licensed ham radio operator but i haven't found any legit sources to back that up.
@@k9swx I live in North Miami Beach, Fl
In the summer of George Floyd 2020, my entire metro area encrypted their transmissions for good. Police, fire, EMS, street sweepers... Some say it's to protect the personal information passed on the radio (it would be illegal to use that information). Some say it's to prevent criminals from using them to stay ahead of the police (that's already illegal). I think the real reason is that they don't want to public to notice how many encounters they have with criminals that they don't pursue. Imagine what the police traffic sounds like when the CVS is shoplifted and the police decide it's just not worth their resources to pursue.
I think there are legitimate reasons for both encrypted and non-encrypted communications. However I don't understand why some cities encrypt everything including fire, EMS, etc.
@@k9swx Their official reason was that they, in the course of normal work, need to pass personal information over the air. Yes, they could have a dedicated enrypted channel that they would switch to when passing personal information. But they say that is too error-prone and could cause a lack of coordination in a high stress situation. I don't buy that at all. Neither do the press, who have threatened to sue for putting them in the dark. The press have used scanners for decades for their livelihoods. The real reason is that after the summer of George Floyd, they don't like being watched or scrutinized. And where I live, they don't pursue much crime anymore because the state raised the bar so high and prosecutors won't prosecute. The police would rather not have the press, and public, watching them let crime just happen.
I think you are spot on with your assessment @@bryan584
Is ISPERN still being used for wide area state police?
I think they have mainly switched to the STARCOM21 system. However, I don't monitor the old 154/155 MHz frequencies anymore to know for certain.
Can I run this program on a sdrplay duo with sdrplay software on the same computer ?
According to the developer, it will work with the SDRPlay DUO. Here is more information on that.
github.com/DSheirer/sdrtrunk/wiki/Tuners#sdrplay-rspduo
Thanks I will give it a try@@k9swx
you need a premium subscription to do what he is doing. don't watch for 13 minutes like i did only to find you gotta put in credit card info.
$15 for 6 months. You'll probably need it if you buy a regular scanner. Or if you stream to them you get it for free.
does this software support 2 receivers one for control and one for voice ? and what is the minimum hardware requirements for this setup ?
If the control and voice frequencies are too far apart then yes you would need two receivers. Not sure about the system requirements. What are the specs of the current system you have?
@@k9swx I plan on building a dedicated computer just for this
This is what the website says about system requirements.
Operating System: Windows (32 or 64-bit), Linux (32 or 64-bit) or Mac/Linux (64-bit, 10.14 or higher)
CPU: 4-core
RAM: 8GB or more (preferred). Depending on usage, 4GB may be sufficient.
Don't you need two SDRs to do this? One for the control channel and one that scans the rest?
If the control channel and other frequencies are too far apart (2.4 MHz is the bandwidth on the RTL-SDRs) then you would need a second SDR. It seems to work with one SDR on my local police/fire/EMS system. However, I've noticed on the state police system that some signals come in fine on the same SDR and then others give me an error unless I plug in a second SDR.
@@k9swxThat’s interesting, so it must depend how their system is set up. I’ve had to have two for my area.
@@matrixlockdown2975 The vast majority of P25 systems will require 2.
Greetings: According 2 U the audio output is stereo Can U mix the audio output as mono (outside the OS)? This way it can B output 2 1 speaker with no loss of material.
Maybe with a mixer? Not really sure. Maybe someone else in the comments with more audio experience can provide further assistance.
@@k9swx Greetings: The external mixer defies portability of Ur project. Suggestion- The raw audio is stereo?1) Either combine the inputs and have 2 matching outputs. 1 being line level / impedance . The other being speaker level / impedance. Such is preferred. 2) combine the 2 amplifier outputs in2 1 amplified output driving speaker. So many ways 2 accomplish the same audio material heard on 1 output. Thx 4 the reply.
I am unable to get the drivers to work on Win 10. Where do I put the driver file for sdr-trunk? Thanks!
Which drivers are you using? Did you use ZADIG?
zadig.akeo.ie/
@@k9swx got it working. 73s
In some States, radio Hams are allowed becose they are supposed to have an higher echtics and be discrete about intercepted comms.
Even simple inverse voice is not legal to decrypt.
Doesn't prevents of course, it is only for regulation and prosecution.
Danger with encryption is that the users think they are safe and speak freely: MAJOR MISTAKE !!!!
Sofisticated systems are very vulnerable (any part of the system is a good target and will blow all comms away).
Trunked systems give the user the illusion he has a channel at his dispose all the time. In a caos situation that is not true and the radio just bips warnig "busy network". Happens all the time. If the cellphone is down, you'll see trunking failling by overload.
The audio on most digital networks is bad (you cannot recognize the voice) and it is easy to fake a radio communication as if it was made by a real officer .
In the past, with analog, (or good HD digital) you would spot an intruder immediatly.
Only FH simplex and auto-healing mesh networks (mil style) will survive dificult times (and only the anti-EMP ones, the others will be doomed).
Are not the police and fire ,and EMS frequencies encrypted ?
It depends on the area. Mine are mostly not encrypted except for a few police channels that are encrypted. What system are you trying to monitor?
All 1st responders
What city and state?
will SDR's do DMR?
It depends on what software you are using to decode the signals. I've used OpenWebRX to decode DMR on the Raspberry Pi. I haven't found a good Windows or Mac decoder for DMR yet.
problem with those programs there are MASS ads on broadcastify
That's one reason to use a program like this or a scanner so you don't have to listen to the ads. :)
Predominantly PDs have migrated to digital encrypted so any scannef woiuld be uselless.
Motorola Turbo with encryption has made scanning impossible. You won’t hear anything. Places are going from conventional analog to digital quickly.
Most of the traffic in this area is all encrypted so messing with any kind of scanner would be a waste of time.
How can I hear the cryptic channel
If you mean encrypted, this software will not do that.
dose this allow encrypted ?? channels
No you can not decrypt encrypted channels with this or any other software.
Well then this is no different than any other radio that can receive on a given band spectrum
@the_kingd0m Most regular analog radios do not receive digital signals that many of the police/fire/EMS have moved to. There is a difference between decoding digital signals and decrypting them. This setup decodes those digitals signals. If a police department decides they want some or all of their transmissions to be encrypted, then those signals will not be able to be heard on this setup or any other physical scanner.
@@the_kingd0m Receiving a particular band won't get you trunked channels. P25 systems use a "Control" channel that doesn't actually transmit a voice. It transmits a signal that instantly assigns a voice communication to a particular frequency, which their radio uses instantly. On a TRUE trunking receiver that channel is automatically selected so you don't have to scan through the DOZENS of possible frequencies before you can receive the voice signal.
ALSO those voice signals are transmitted digitally, and you can't hear them without DECODING them through a digital processor. Now what ENCRYPTION does is scramble the signal using a specific DECRYPTION key. It is actually ILLEGAL to possess that key without authorization. TYPICALLY however only the most sensitive conversations are encrypted because there are more channels than encryption keys.
Using this software and 2 SDR Dongles, allows you to receive the DIGITAL signals that aren't encrypted, which is the MAJORITY of the traffic, and it does so by selecting the required frequency INSTANTLY. Something ELSE this software allows you to do is listen to *_MULTIPLE CONVERSATIONS AT THE SAME TIME._* Your standard receiver isn't going to do THAT!!
Now you can buy a trunking scanner for upwards of $700, or you can spend about $80 on a pair of dongles and get the same results. (edit: actually BETTER results)
If anybody wants to show me how to add all of the frequencies from my county, including the digital, which I've got installed already, and listen to them all, I'd be very interested. Right now you can only listen to the digital system, p25, but I can't listen to anything that's not unless I turn that off.
You would probably need more than one RTL-SDR dongle to listen to multiple systems at the same time.
Well there is decoders there people are doing it.. for encrypted channels
I hadn't heard about any decryption available to the general public. I'm not a lawyer but I'd guess it is probably illegal (at least here in the US) to decrypt these transmissions. Otherwise it would be rather useless for the systems to even use encryption.
Most likely you are mistaking decoding a digital signal with deciphering encrypted signals. There are no normal people out there breaking police encryption. That's Homeland Security FBI and CIA level stuff.
And k9swx is completely correct. It is absolutely illegal to even attempt to break encryption
That's what I was thinking he meant too. Decode and decrypt are two different things.
Very rare cases where county P25's will grant access to encrypted, you would need that and the special identifier code from them to unlock!
not in the UK
Sorry to hear that.
a bearcat 3 cost $ 149.95 plus $5.95 for a crystal x 8 =47.60 =197.55 plus sales tax . a lot of money 1n 1975
Its completely legal to carry a police scanner in your car and on your person just can't be used for illegal activities.
Is that just for your location? I haven't found any legit legal documents on this one way or another.
that is the fake rtl sdr the real one is silver the rtl sdr has a link for the real one
The RTL-SDR website lists the silver and black ones as legit.
www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-blog-v-3-dongles-user-guide/
@@k9swx ive had mine for almost 2 years you cant read most of the lable on it they must of did another revision sorry cause it showed the one ive had almost 2 years ago
Great work! Congratulations! Where do I register to fill in a name and password in the application? De LZ1INP, 73!
Are you talking about the part where you import the frequencies? You would go to RadioReference and do it there.
www.radioreference.com/
Thanks for the great info. Might be time to buy a new toy :)
73
K4RZM
It is fun for sure! Thanks!