Live Scanner "Mini Console" Page is Back

Folks who had visited the NW Ohio Live Scanner page in the past may have remembered the "Mini Console" page with multiple embedded live streams all on one page. Well the "Mini Console" page is back. The Mini Console page features all three of my NW Ohio live streams from ScanAmerica embedded on one page. This page allows folks to listen to the NW Ohio Digital & MARCS feed, NW Ohio Fire / Emergency Analog feed, and Toledo and Lucas County Fire & EMS Digital feed all at the same time.

The Live Scanner Mini Console is designed for use with Windows Media Player. Each feed is 16 Kbps so a decent connection is needed to listen to all feeds at the same time. You may need to adjust your web browser settings to accept more than two downloads at the same time. Individual feeds can be muted and volume levels custom mixed to your needs. Stereo balancing provides pseudo surround sound and distributes the audio from each feed from the left to the right speakers. In Windows Media Player, the "Visualization" / "Bars and Waves" / "Fire Storm" provides for a good graphical activity indicator.

Algosteel makes Mid-January arrival at Port of Toledo

The Algoma Central Corporation's cargo vessel Algosteel has made a mid-January arrival at the Port of Toledo (01/16/2009 @ 6:00 PM Local Time) in Toledo, Ohio. Based on AIS mapping data, it appears that the USCGC Neah Bay is helping to clear ice. The CCGS Griffon may have also been assisting with ice operations in the western basin of Lake Erie. The Algosteel is currently reporting as being moored in the Maumee Channel, just off the at the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority Facility No. 1 (Midwest Terminals of Toledo International) docks. Discussions on VHF Marine Channel 81 are indicating a failure at the CSX Railroad Swing Bridge, and a maintainer has been called to get the bridge back in motion. The vessel also discussed at least two additional scheduled loads of salt from Goderich, Ontario are planned (one to Detroit and one to Chicago).

This might be the last Live Mapping AIS activity in a while for here in Toledo.

TARE Meeting this Thursday

For folks wanting to get together with others from the NW Ohio area and chat about radio communications, the monthly TARE meeting is coming up this Thursday 01/15 at 7:00 PM.

TARE (Toledo Area Radio Enthusiasts) meets every third Thursday of the month at Schlotzsky's Deli on Reynolds Rd in Maumee Ohio (Schlotzsky's Deli‎ on Google Maps). There is always a good handful of folks there and the get together is pretty informal. Just look for the tables pushed together with radios and some laptops. Discussions usually range from shortwave listening, scanning and public safety monitoring, amateur radio communications and more (or less).

Folks that may have purchased or received newer radios from over the holidays, feel free to bring your equipment and questions. There are usually others with most of the common brands and models of scanners present, and there is always somebody that can help.

Audio Log from Oregon FD Barn Fire

I have posted an Audio Log file from this morning's barn fire in Oregon Ohio. There is a link to the file in the Selected Activity Library (http://nwohio-liveservices.dyndns.org/audiologs.html) on the Audio Logs page.

This file contains 25 minutes of fire ground audio from the Oregon Fire Department operations starting at 12:36 AM and through 9:19 AM on the morning of Friday, January 2nd, 2009. Firefighters from Oregon FD Station 1 and Station 3 battled the barn fire blaze that occurred at the 7100 block of Corduroy Road in the City of Oregon.

Direct Link: 01/02/2009 - Ohio, Lucas County, Oregon FD - Barn Fire (11.5 MB)

See the following articles from WTOL "Oregon barn fire kills animals, damages house" ( http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=9606529) and "Oregon farmer talks of deadly fire" (http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=9608592) for more information.

Interesting Internet Integrated Services

Here are a couple of interesting Internet integrated services that I have stumbled upon over the past few weeks.
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The first interesting service comes courtesy of the Laclede County Office of Emergency Management (http://www.lacledeoem.net/) in the State of Missouri. They are providing a "Live Radio Console Feed" stream of their dispatch console system from their Emergency Operations Center. Windows Media Encoder is being used to provide access to a ZETRON Console screen view and related audio:

http://broadcast.lacledeoem.net/

See the following Radio Reference thread for additional discussion:

http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75442
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The second interesting service comes courtesy of the Lebanon County Emergency Management Agency (http://www.lebanonema.org/) in the State of Pennsylvania. They are providing an ongoing real time log of decoded Lebanon County dispatch pages. A data slicer monitors the POCSAG paging radio transmissions off the air:

http://lebanonema.org/pager/html/monitor.html

See the following thread on their site for additional details and information:

http://www.lebanonema.org/lema/Radio+Project/277.aspx
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Jeff KC8NNO