The 128 Best Police Scanner Websites

Looking for the best police scanner websites? 

Scanning has been around for a long time & with the large number of enthusiasts in the scanning world, there is a lot of information online about police scanners. 

Some of this information is extremely helpful and some of it is pretty useless.

To help navigate the online scanning scene we compiled the best police scanner websites.

In this article we will cover:

 

 

Below are the largest & most active online groups & forums.

These are general scanning forums - for forums about your region see Regional & International Police Scanner Resources below. 

We highly recommend searching these forums for a group about your geographic area or specific product; these can be very helpful.

Radio Reference

This is the largest online forum for scanners with over 800,000 members.

There are hundreds of new submissions daily covering basically everything you could ever want to know about scanning.

Be sure to look at their wide range of forum groups such as Prospective Uniden Owners, & regional groups like the Alabama Radio Discussion Forum- there is a group for almost everything here.

This is a must visit site for scanning enthusiasts.

Yahoo Groups

Yahoo has a general scanning group as well as several smaller focused groups. Regional & specific scanner groups may be helpful such as the BCD436HP group or the Marine Scanning Group.

HF Underground

Worldwide shortwave radio forum.  While this forum only has around 1,500 members it's quite active & is for the more technical user.

Homepatrol.com

This Uniden owned site was created specifically for the HomePatrol-1 and HomePatrol-2 scanners & has expanded from there.

While not as large or active as Radio Reference, this is a great forum for Uniden digital scanner owners.

RD Forum

This 7,000 member forum is for radar detectors but they have a small 'CB & Scanner Forum' as well.

Worldwide DX Radio Forum

This forum covers all radio hobby including CB & ham. They also have a sub forum for scanning.

 

 

There are a lot of free frequency guides online, some of them are great, but others are horribly outdated or regionally focused. 

Below is a list of the largest & most updated free national frequency sources.  While these are great, visit the Regional & International Police Scanner Resources section below to find sites that cover your area or interest.

These regional websites typically have more up-to-date & hard to find frequencies listed.

 

Radio Reference

This is by far the largest & most accurate free frequency guide online.

While the best resource for general frequencies such as fire & police, regional sites tend to have more off-beat or hard to find frequencies for things like local business & amusement parks.

 

City Freq

This is a great resource for finding frequencies from all over the world including police, air, military,  & is easy to navigate.

 

Digital Frequency Search

Digital Frequency Search is a free website that allows you to search for NXDN, DMR, and P25 radio licenses by county and state.

Digital Frequency Search's Quick Import tool allows you to easily import conventional frequencies into Whistler and Uniden scanner programming software.

 

Live ATC

This is a site for air traffic only. It's a frequency guide, index to find free online air traffic streams & has a large forum with over 150,000 members.

They have a nice visual tool to help you search for air traffic frequencies worldwide.

 

ArtSCI

This interactive site allows users to filter for frequency lists by state, county & zip.

 

Zip Scanners

Yeah us! Our resource & learning center has a ton of information on scanners including educational articles, beginner's guides, buying guides, antenna buyer's guide, installation guides, scanning tips, 100's of free YouTube Videos & more.

You're already here - poke around a bit:)

 

Radio Reference Wiki

This is a great resource center with articles & in-depth how-to guides. They also have a wiki page for each scanner that goes into great detail & is very helpful.

 

Wikipedia

A great resource for general police scanner technical definitions.

 

eHow

eHow has a lot of user generated articles around scanners including programming guides & other educational content.

 

Police-Scanner.info

Police-Scanner.infoThis is a very informative site with a lot of great educational articles covering all things scanner related.

 

AC6V

This is a true treasure trove of information on all things amateur radio related.  We link to their scanning section above, but this site has a large amount of information on everything from antennas, to CB radios & more.

 

DX Zone

Amateur Radio site with some helpful scanning resources

 

 

 

Aviation Police Scanner Resources

AirNav.com

Search by each airport in the U.S.

 

Global Air

Airport information.

 

Live ATC

With over 150,000 members, Live ATC is a forum, frequency guide, stream index & more. This is a must visit site for aviation scanning enthusiasts.

 

Radar Spotting

Aircraft spotting website with a 1,500+ person forum, educational guides, articles & more.

 

Racing & NASCAR Police Scanner Resources

 

Zip Scanners

Us again! Our comprehensive NASCAR Race Scanning Guide includes everything you need to know about race scanning including how to find frequencies for each team & track, as well as how to rent or buy a scanner, choose a race headset & more.

 

Jayski

NASCAR frequencies for each driver.

 

Radio Reference

Radio Reference has a wiki page for each race track where users update frequencies for that track as well as a race scanning sub forum which is fairly active.

 

Railroad Police Scanner Resources

 

Train Web

This site list all US train frequencies & has a wide variety of train information including rail fanning & rail travel information.

 

Railfan & Railroad Magazine

A monthly print & digital publication that covers all things rail related.

 

Let's Talk Trains

A very active fail fan blog, podcast & more.

 

Railroad Radio

US rail frequency lists by region.

 

Virtual Rail Fan

Watch live steams for trains & listen to train chatter via live scanner feeds.

 

 

There are thousands of personal & scanning blogs & amateur radio clubs which can be very useful & are a great source of information about scanning, frequencies, & nuances in your area.

Below is a sampling of the biggest & most active of these sites.

Please mention any site we may have overlooked in the comments & we'll add.

 

Best United States Police Scanning Resources

Alabama

• Shelby County Area Frequencies - Central Alabama, south of Birmingham, local emergency site with list of area frequencies
• Yahoo! Group - South Alabama Scan - Southern Alabama scanning discussion group.

Alaska

• N/A

Arizona

• N/A

Arkansas

• NorthCentral Arkansas (White County Area) - The North Central Arkansas Amateur Radio Association site has a local frequencies guide.

California

• Scan Riverside - East of LA, around Riverside, this is an active group of scanner enthusiasts that maintains up-to-date frequency pages and has a forum for local users.
• Scan Cal - All of California is covered county by county with a large frequency list. A great resource with lots of great information. Covering all of California, this is an index of several hard to find frequencies such as Air Force bases, Universities, prisons & more. This site is run by National Communications Magazine.
• Radio Bern - Covering the San Francisco & LA areas, this site contains local scanning information & has a local frequency database.
• Mendosa - Covering the Santa Barbara & Santa Cruz areas, this local blog lists all local frequencies.
• Freq of Nature - Covering all of California, this site is a great resource for frequencies & general local scanning information.
• Kern County Scanner Club - An active Facebook scanner group for Kern County.
• Yahoo Groups - Humboldt County - An active scanning group for Humboldt County.

Colorado

• N/A

Connecticut

• N/A

Delaware

• N/A

Florida

• North Central Florida Scannist's Page - This Gainesville area blog discusses scanning in the area.

Georgia

• Georgia Scanner - Georgia specific database.

Hawaii

• Radio Monitoring Hawaii - This site covers all of the islands & is a resource that has a wide range of frequencies.

Idaho

• N/A

Illinois

• Scan Macoupin County - A feed of Macoupin County police scanners.
• k9mce - This site covers Macoupin County and discusses local amateur radio events and information.
• Chicago Area Radio Monitoring Association (CARMA) - Covering the Chicago area, CARMA is the largest & most active scanner club in the US.  Their site has a lot of information, useful links & is a must read for scanning hobbyists in the area. They also have a Yahoo! Groups page.
• Grundy County - Frequency lists for Grundy County (SW of Chicago).
• Suburban UHF Amateur Repeater Society (SUHFARS) - Based in Lake County Illinois (North of Chicago) this active group gets together regularly & has lots of local information on their site.

Indiana

• N/A

Iowa

• Quad-CitiesScanner Frequencies - This site has Iowa frequencies state-wide & a few Illinois frequencies as well. Organized by city & use, this is an easy to use site.

Kansas

• NOSS Media - Provides Raw News in Real Time and scanner coverage for Johnson County.

• Kansas State University Radio Club - Frequencies for KSU campus.

Kentucky

• N/A

Louisiana

• Scan Baton Rouge (Yahoo! Groups page) - A 350 person Baton Rouge area scanner discussion group.

Maine

• N/A

Maryland

• Capital Hill Monitors (CHM) - This greater DC area scanning club covering DC, Virginia, Delaware & Maryland. CHM hosts meetings & sponsors tours throughout the year.  They also have a newsletter & a lot of useful resources on their site including frequencies.
• Southern Maryland Online - Souther Maryland website that coves all things in the area. They also have a forum that has a 'Scanner Activity' sub forum.

Massachusetts

• N/A

Michigan

• Northern Mi - Serving the Gaylord area this site lists frequencies & has a live feed.

Minnesota

• MN Police Scanner - A blog with links to MN feeds & scanner highlights from Minnesota.

Mississippi

• Scan Mississippi - Mississippi specific database.

Missouri

• N/A

Montana

• Scan Montana - Montana specific database.

Nebraska

• NOSS Media - Provides Raw News in Real Time and scanner coverage for Omaha and surrounding communities.

Nevada

• N/A

New Hampshire

• N/A

New Jersey

• Jim Robinson’s Scanner Page - Here you can find Greater New Jersey frequency lists as well as regional scanning information such as New Jersey rail information.

New Mexico

• N/A

New York

• N2Nov - Active since 1998, this is a great scanner resource for NYC scanner activity.

North Carolina

• N/A

Ohio

• N/A

Oklahoma

• N/A

Oregon

• Oregon Scanner Frequencies - This frequency guide covers Southern Oregon & Northern California & has a lot of hard to find frequencies like ski hills & other local businesses.

Pennsylvania

• Central Pennsylvania Monitoring Association - This is a Yahoo! group of scanner enthusiasts.
• Scanner Nut - This is a Central Pennsylvania scanning forum.
• Greg Halprin - Covering the York area, this personal blog covers all things scanner related in the area.
• PGH Scanner - This site covers Western Pennsylvania & general scanning; it also has a scanning forum.
• Philly Scanner - This Yahoo! group has over 700 members dedicated to Philadelphia area police scanning.

Rhode Island

• N/A

South Carolina

• N/A

South Dakota

• N/A

Tennessee

• N4YEKs World - This Eastern Tennessee scanning blog has a lot of local  frequencies.

Texas

• Eric Carlson - Houston area frequency list.

Utah

• N/A

Vermont

• Scan Vermont - Vermont specific database.

Virginia

• N/A

Washington

• N/A

West Virginia

• N/A

Wisconsin

• Wisconsin Scanner Frequencies - Wisconsin wide frequency list, searchable by county.

Wyoming

• Lightning Leo's Wyoming Frequency Guide - Wyoming wide frequency guide by county.

 

Best Canadian Police Scanning Resources

Canada - General

• Spectrum Management & Telecommunications - This is the frequency management page for Canada (their FCC) & a good resource for all things amateur radio.

Alberta

• N/A

British Columbia

• N/A

Ontario

• N/A

Quebec

• N/A

Best European Police Scanning Resources

• Dansk Scanner Information - Denmark scanning resources including frequencies, forums & educational information.
• UK Radio Scanning Forum - UK scanning forum with over 1200 members.
• UK Scanning Directory - 80,000+ frequency directory for the UK.
• Radio Amateur - European amateur radio directory.
• ML&S - UK based ham radio retailer with a lot helpful information.

 

Best Australia & Pacific Police Scanning Resources

• SA Scan  - Southern Australia scanning information including frequency lists. They also have a Yahoo groups page.
• NSW GRM Scan  - NSW GRN provides scanning information for the New South Wales (NSW) Government Radio Network. It also has a lot of great local scanning information & educational articles.
• Aussie Scanners - Australia wide scanning resource includes forum, live streams & more.
• SACFS.org - Fire scanning information.
• BathurstScan - Bathurst area scanning blog.
• AUFR Scan - Australia wide scanning forum.
• AMCA (Government site) - This page allows users to look for frequencies.
• Lake Scan - Newcastle area frequency lists.
• Kiwi Asylum - New Zealand scanning blog & forum.

 

 

There are an infinite number of resources to find online public radio streaming.

Below are the largest nationwide sites.

For regional or specific niche resources, see the Regional & International Police Scanner Resources section.

• Broadcastify - With over 4,000 streams, Broadcastify is the largest source of public safety streams in the US. The site is easy to use & we recommend finding streams here for all first time users.
• Live ATC - This a site for air traffic only. It is both a frequency guide & an index to find free online air traffic streams that has a nice visual tool to help you search. They have the largest air-only feeds online & their database is worldwide.

 

 

When buying police scanner frequency guides, be sure to look at the publication or 'updated on' date as frequencies change.

• Scanner Stuff - Long time publisher of frequency books in California, Arizona, Georgia, Oregon & Washington.
• National Communications Magazine - Bi-monthly hobby radio magazine about scanning, CB & two-way radios (including GMRS, FRS, MURS & amateur).
• The Spectrum Monitor - Monthly electronic magazine covering amateur radio, shortwave listening, scanning, AM/FM/DXing, Wi-Fi & vintage radio. Launched in January 2014 as a follow-on publication to Monitoring Times, which ceased publication.