Media Watch | Ultra-cheap Software Defined Radio receiver @Bob9961 | Uploaded February 2014 | Updated October 2024, 5 hours ago.
This is my local police department's dispatch channel on a conventional 2-way radio system (not trunked), using a DVB-T USB TV tuner stick and a free program called HDSDR. The UniTrunker program would enable trunk tracking using a second stick that listen to the control channel and tunes SDR Sharp (another free receiver program) to the active frequency. There are a variety of devices available; look for units with the RTL2832U chipset at $8 and up. I listen to FM radio broadcasts between 88 and 108 Mhz, Amateur Radio on 146 Mhz, FRS on 462/7 MHZ, NWS at 162 Mhz and many others on a feature-rich receiver that cost less than $20. Add a better antenna (and adapter) for better range. It took me some 20 minutes to work out some driver kinks, but these setups are well documented and support articles are abundant.
This is my local police department's dispatch channel on a conventional 2-way radio system (not trunked), using a DVB-T USB TV tuner stick and a free program called HDSDR. The UniTrunker program would enable trunk tracking using a second stick that listen to the control channel and tunes SDR Sharp (another free receiver program) to the active frequency. There are a variety of devices available; look for units with the RTL2832U chipset at $8 and up. I listen to FM radio broadcasts between 88 and 108 Mhz, Amateur Radio on 146 Mhz, FRS on 462/7 MHZ, NWS at 162 Mhz and many others on a feature-rich receiver that cost less than $20. Add a better antenna (and adapter) for better range. It took me some 20 minutes to work out some driver kinks, but these setups are well documented and support articles are abundant.
