About Online Radio Scanners

Contributor

By Chris Blank
eHow Contributing Writer

Article Rating: (0 Ratings)

Back in the day, it was necessary to buy and program a Citizens' Band (CB) radio, much like those used by long distance truck drivers, in order to listen to police, fire and other emergency response broadcasts. Now many live emissions are available on the Internet, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for free, to anyone who is interested in hearing them, with no special equipment or programming required.

Function of Citizens' Band Radios

Citizens' Band (CB) radios are designed to pick up broadcasts from police, fire and other emergency response workers. Long distance truck drivers often have CB radios in their cabs in order to stay aware of possible detours or other situations which may cause a delay in their delivery. CB radios used by truck drivers usually have a send and receive function, so that they can alert one another to possible problems. CB radios gained popularity among civilians in the 1980s, as many ordinary citizens tuned in to their local police and fire stations.

Funtion of Online Radio Scanners

Online radio scanners allow anyone with a computer and Internet access to listen to live broadcasts from police, fire and other emergency response workers. Most CB radios are limited to receiving local broadcasts. However, online radio scanners can receive any signal which has a link posted online.

Listening to Online Radio Scanners

In most instances no special hardware is required to listen to online radio scanners. Most new computers come with a media program installed already. In older computers, it may be necessary to download a media player. Some hardware upgrades might also be necessary. Once the media player is installed, it is a matter of clicking on the link for the desired broadcast and playing it through the media player which transmits the sound into the computer's speakers or into headphones.

Searching for Online Radio Scanner Frequencies

A search for "online radio scanners" will reveal a number of links. Some links will be for individual frequencies, while others will be for websites which aggregate, or gather a number of frequencies. Some websites require users to create accounts before listening to online radio scanner broadcasts. However, in most instances there is no charge required.

Considerations

Besides the need to update equipment for older computers, in some instances, software updates may be needed in order to receive the signal properly. From time to time, links for online radio scanners go out of date as well. For some sites which aggregate online radio scanner links, a donation is requested, even if there is no required charge to use the site's services.