Sorry about that, Chief. The power has been restored to the scanner on the McLean Relay Station.
Now you will actually hear radio traffic once again.
2008-12-07
2008-12-01
McLean Relay Station up full time
Bote's McLean Relay Station is up full time with channel tags to serve you better. Please avail yourself of the links on the left. They most likely will bring up the Shoutcast server status page if you just click on them.
If you want to listen outright, just copy the link contents and paste into your favorite player, including WinAmp (preferred), iTunes, VLC (VideoLAN), or Windows Media Player (no channel tags).
The systems monitored include (and are usually limited to):
0 - The Federal District of Columbia fire trunked radio system
1 - Arlington County, Virginia public safety digital trunked system, fire
(1) - Arlington County, Virginia public safety analog trunked system (catch all)
3 - MWAA (Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority) DCA and IAD trunked system, fire
4 - Fairfax County, Virginia public safety trunked system, fire
7 - Montgomery County, Maryland public safety trunked system, fire
At my option I might open up or deactivate certain groups as needed since I have remote control capability of this scanner. With the upcoming presidential inauguration fun and games I'm sure this capability will come in very handy. :-)
Because this feed monitors several trunked systems that employ duplicate talkgroup ids you might see DC fire on the channel tags when MWAA fire is talking. That's the way it goes. If you refer to the Council of Governments handy-dandy numbering chart above you can tell who you are hearing: the jurisdiction numbers are prefixed onto the unit numbers, so engine 705 is former Kensington (Montgomery) engine 5-1 and tower 401 is former McLean (Fairfax County) tower 1. Also, the damned channel tags don't seem to keep up when the scanner is rapidly stopping on different channels so you can't always believe what you read on the Internet.
More will be posted here as warranted.
If you want to listen outright, just copy the link contents and paste into your favorite player, including WinAmp (preferred), iTunes, VLC (VideoLAN), or Windows Media Player (no channel tags).
The systems monitored include (and are usually limited to):
0 - The Federal District of Columbia fire trunked radio system
1 - Arlington County, Virginia public safety digital trunked system, fire
(1) - Arlington County, Virginia public safety analog trunked system (catch all)
3 - MWAA (Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority) DCA and IAD trunked system, fire
4 - Fairfax County, Virginia public safety trunked system, fire
7 - Montgomery County, Maryland public safety trunked system, fire
At my option I might open up or deactivate certain groups as needed since I have remote control capability of this scanner. With the upcoming presidential inauguration fun and games I'm sure this capability will come in very handy. :-)
Because this feed monitors several trunked systems that employ duplicate talkgroup ids you might see DC fire on the channel tags when MWAA fire is talking. That's the way it goes. If you refer to the Council of Governments handy-dandy numbering chart above you can tell who you are hearing: the jurisdiction numbers are prefixed onto the unit numbers, so engine 705 is former Kensington (Montgomery) engine 5-1 and tower 401 is former McLean (Fairfax County) tower 1. Also, the damned channel tags don't seem to keep up when the scanner is rapidly stopping on different channels so you can't always believe what you read on the Internet.
More will be posted here as warranted.
2008-11-27
M.R.S. Now With Channel Tags
The McLean Relay Station now has channel tags (or "alpha tags") so you can tell what you are hearing.
A few talkgroups are duplicated among several trunked systems so I chose the label most likely to be heard, but remember this if you see something that doesn't add up.
Let me know on the RadioReference streaming scanner forum how it works.
Thanks!
A few talkgroups are duplicated among several trunked systems so I chose the label most likely to be heard, but remember this if you see something that doesn't add up.
Let me know on the RadioReference streaming scanner forum how it works.
Thanks!
2008-11-17
New feed demo: McLean Relay Station
Yes, the McLean Relay Station is back online for a demonstration run.
This time around the focus is not railroad radio, but public safety. [Note 1]
Arlington County's digital trunked system comes in the best, with Fairfax County's a distant second. Both of these trunked systems give occasional fits to Uniden scanners, but for the most part they get the job done.
The focus of this new feed will be fire and rescue communications. Perhaps Arlington police will sneak on there when warranted. During this demo period you never know what you'll hear. Ya been tol'
If things work out well, I will make this feed permanent. You can listen with WinAmp, iTunes, Windows Media Player, and VLC. There might be existing Teamspeak feeds with this same traffic, but this feed allows just about anyone to hear it without requiring the installation of any new software.
If I can set up the talkgroup tags to fill in the Title field on your player, that will only make it that much better to monitor.
Enjoy!
da Bote Man
Note 1: I really like rail communications because they are pure and simple: FM high band simplex, no repeaters getting in the way, clean audio (mostly), and you know when a train is nearby based on signal strength. But these days the VHF band is getting even more polluted with noise generated by computerized devices of all kinds. Plus, the many various high powered transmitters around the receive site overload all but the best receivers. So the effort to receive railroad communications in McLean does not justify the results.
This time around the focus is not railroad radio, but public safety. [Note 1]
Arlington County's digital trunked system comes in the best, with Fairfax County's a distant second. Both of these trunked systems give occasional fits to Uniden scanners, but for the most part they get the job done.
The focus of this new feed will be fire and rescue communications. Perhaps Arlington police will sneak on there when warranted. During this demo period you never know what you'll hear. Ya been tol'
If things work out well, I will make this feed permanent. You can listen with WinAmp, iTunes, Windows Media Player, and VLC. There might be existing Teamspeak feeds with this same traffic, but this feed allows just about anyone to hear it without requiring the installation of any new software.
If I can set up the talkgroup tags to fill in the Title field on your player, that will only make it that much better to monitor.
Enjoy!
da Bote Man
Note 1: I really like rail communications because they are pure and simple: FM high band simplex, no repeaters getting in the way, clean audio (mostly), and you know when a train is nearby based on signal strength. But these days the VHF band is getting even more polluted with noise generated by computerized devices of all kinds. Plus, the many various high powered transmitters around the receive site overload all but the best receivers. So the effort to receive railroad communications in McLean does not justify the results.
2008-11-11
Boca Box channel tags
Bote's Boca Box upgraded: now you can see who is talking with channel tags!
Thanks to Gordon of ScanAmerica, I installed his Talkgroup Monitor last night on the Boca Box feed to include the talkgroup or channel tags in the stream. You will see the name of the current channel while listening on WinAmp. I am not sure about iTunes or other players and clients.
If you go to the Shoutcast DNAS page that lists statistics about the feed and look at the Song History page, ignore the time of day listed next to each channel in the history list. The server's clock has never kept accurate time, varying by as much as several MINUTES each hour. Sorry about that.
Next up, I hope to try this on my Mixer Board feed out of Fort Lauderdale, but that uses a BC780 which might not work with Gordon's add-on. Stay tuned.
Thanks to Gordon of ScanAmerica, I installed his Talkgroup Monitor last night on the Boca Box feed to include the talkgroup or channel tags in the stream. You will see the name of the current channel while listening on WinAmp. I am not sure about iTunes or other players and clients.
If you go to the Shoutcast DNAS page that lists statistics about the feed and look at the Song History page, ignore the time of day listed next to each channel in the history list. The server's clock has never kept accurate time, varying by as much as several MINUTES each hour. Sorry about that.
Next up, I hope to try this on my Mixer Board feed out of Fort Lauderdale, but that uses a BC780 which might not work with Gordon's add-on. Stay tuned.
2008-11-04
Boca Box lineup change
A small change to the system lineup on Bote's Boca Box: Deerfield Beach fire is out, Boynton Beach public safety is in.
The indoor antenna simply can not hear Deerfield Beach's system very well, so I'll try it with Boynton Beach fire and see how it goes.
So now the lineup is:
Boca Raton public safety
Delray Beach public safety
Boynton Beach public safety
[ maybe FEC railway if there is something to hear, but lots of computer noise and poor reception make this unlikely ]
At least I have the 3 digital public safety trunked systems in there, so those of you who don't have digital scanners can partake.
Enjoy!
The indoor antenna simply can not hear Deerfield Beach's system very well, so I'll try it with Boynton Beach fire and see how it goes.
So now the lineup is:
Boca Raton public safety
Delray Beach public safety
Boynton Beach public safety
[ maybe FEC railway if there is something to hear, but lots of computer noise and poor reception make this unlikely ]
At least I have the 3 digital public safety trunked systems in there, so those of you who don't have digital scanners can partake.
Enjoy!
2008-11-03
Boca Box downgraded
Bote's Boca Box has been downgraded.
It will no longer have an antenna up on the roof, but it still hears Deerfield Beach surprisingly well. The railroad stuff has been greatly scaled back, leaving only the FEC road channel open; CSX road channel and FEC uplink to the dispatcher are both hit with computer birdies, so those are gone. This is with a crap antenna inside a 1st floor window, but it's better than nuttin.
Lemme know if weird stuff happens. At least I can put my hands on the equipment readily if something goes awry.
It will no longer have an antenna up on the roof, but it still hears Deerfield Beach surprisingly well. The railroad stuff has been greatly scaled back, leaving only the FEC road channel open; CSX road channel and FEC uplink to the dispatcher are both hit with computer birdies, so those are gone. This is with a crap antenna inside a 1st floor window, but it's better than nuttin.
Lemme know if weird stuff happens. At least I can put my hands on the equipment readily if something goes awry.
2008-10-29
FTL stream audio restored
I could not figure out where the audio was disappearing from the Fort Lauderdale stream, but it magically came back while I was juggling cables around. Then I could not get it to fail.
Don't argue with success, right?
I have no idea how long it was down because I listen to the scanner locally here, not the feed. I wish someone had alerted me. It never gets THAT quiet on the scanner here. :-)
Don't argue with success, right?
I have no idea how long it was down because I listen to the scanner locally here, not the feed. I wish someone had alerted me. It never gets THAT quiet on the scanner here. :-)
2008-09-17
Boca Box back up
The prodigal son has returned and reset the piece-of-crap Terk VR-1 volume regulator which apparently was the stopping point of the scanner audio all this time.
It does the job well enough when it is working, but it is ultra sensitive to power glitches. Even on the APC UPS it still found a way to fritz out. Nothing is ever trouble-free.
All is well now, though.
Enjoy!
Bote
It does the job well enough when it is working, but it is ultra sensitive to power glitches. Even on the APC UPS it still found a way to fritz out. Nothing is ever trouble-free.
All is well now, though.
Enjoy!
Bote
2008-09-11
Boca Box no audio
Bote's Boca Box has decided to stop emitting audio from the scanner. I have tried everything I know to fix it remotely, now I will have to get access to the radio room and see what happened up close and personal. This might not be until next week sometime.
Sorry.
Sorry.
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