PoliceStream is an app that broadcasts fire/ems scanner activity in real-time (few second delay) from 2700+ different locations in the United States and Canada via your wireless connection.
I have used the Android app PoliceStream for the past month (greenmesh11/9/09). The developer has been making updates to the content and functionality regularly.
For York County, Pennsylvania, the scans are broken up into police, fire and public safety.
Tips: Float over the frequency in the app for an option to bring it to the top of the list for easier access from the list when opening app. The sidebar helps you quickly scroll though 2700 channels alphabetically.
The service won't scan all the channels available on a $700 trunked digital scanner nor will it be as reliable, but for $1 you can't beat it for a quick portable scanner of the basics to enhance news gathering.
This fall York County switched over to a digital system making the former inexpensive analog scanners obsolete.
The audio level from PoliceStream wasn't as loud as other multimedia I push out the Droid's external speaker, which is pretty good otherwise.
I solved the volume issue with a MOTOROKR EQ7. The unit with four metallic JBL speakers on top will also fill a room nicely for music and podcasting.
The bluetooth unit paired out of the box without any quirks and just automatically reconnects to the phone whenever it's plugged in.
The unit also doubles as a speaker phone. I don't really use a phone to talk, so I haven't tested this function other than to see that it works.
Leave a comment