I saw a posting on one of the Blackberry feeds I monitor about an application that allows you to listen to live feeds from scanners that are streaming their audio onto the Internet. I visited the site and immediately downloaded the application to my Blackberry. It worked perfectly on my Pearl 8130 through Verizon Wireless.

The application is called BBScanner and you can access the site at http://www.bbscanner.com. The application is small and very straightforward to use. You obviouslly need an unlimited data plan with your Blackberry service or you wouldn’t want to use this program. The initial download provides a fully functional application for 14 days. But to actually register the application is… drumroll… a whole $2.99 !! I’ve already registered.

The feeds come primarily from the Radio Reference live feed site but also natively supports feeds from RailRoadRadio.net as well as some weather feeds ftom WUnderground.com. In addition, you can see if a feed from another source can be linked to from your Blackberry as a custom feed. For those outside the US, a quick look shows some feeds for Australia, Canada, Chile and New Zealand in the Browse by Area section.

The program seems to work remarkably well in the testing I did. You first launch the application and select from bookmarked feeds, feeds by area (country, state), feeds by genre (Air, Ham Amateur Radio, Public Safety, Rail or Weather) or by one of the 3 main source feed sites then by country/state, etc. Once you drill down and select a specific feed, it starts to buffer the feed and then starts to play it. It is really that straightforward and smooth.

I have poor hearing so some of the feeds are a bit low in volume for me, but that isn’t the app but the feed itself. If there’s a specific town/frequency/feed you want, you’d need to either set it up yourself or find someone that can get the audio and stream it onto the Internet and then this can pick it up. From what I read at the Radio Reference site, it’s a pretty straightforward process to get setup on your own with the specifics on their Live Audio Feed Provider form.

So if you have a Blackberry I encourage you to download and try this program out. If you’re wondering what feeds are available, the vast majority are streamed from the RR site and you can view those live feeds online. I’d bet you’d find the $2.99 registration fee a real bargain!

73,
K2DSL