Computer Radio (Scanner)

Just connect antenna to RX.

Depends on what sort of radio.

Net radio sure easy enough, some visual basic and a compliant browser all good.

For "commercial" radio traffic, yes still doable but you require a radio that can be driven remotely via serial communication.

Jump on ebay or alibaba and do a search, you might find something off the shelf.

The HAM radio link from this page looks cool.

http://radio.software.informer.com/download-radio-tuner-for-computer/

Thanks for the link but those software/programs works with an internet connection and i am looking for an offline/radio wave service.

I don't think this is what you're looking for either, but it's pretty darn cool, so I'll throw it up anyway. It's live feeds for police, fire, etc. works just like a regular scanner, with no antenna needed. Most radio stations around here, (even the college stations), have a live web feed. Not quite sure what you're after.

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/

Just being nosy here, but, radios are cheap, why use your computer as one?

You can probably buy an AM/FM radio, with stereo speakers and a CD player for a little over $20.

GA for you

You gave me an exact answer to tie my freak mind.

Here's a FM, TV tuner IDE card & some other toys

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D193870011&field-keywords=fm+tuner&x=0&y=0

NO.

Computer can not be used as a radio by adding an antenna to the RS-232 and using software as you asked. They are two different distinct devices.

What you can do is obtain (buy, make, etc.) a radio scanner and connect it to you computer and control it from your computer. With the current features of available scanners this is somewhat redundant since the scanners have many features which control them and give information similar to what a computer would.

Don't know where you are located but in the USA many radio stations have on line sites and you can listen via them. Also many people operate scanners that are tuned to emergency services such as fire, police, ambulance which are then fed onto the internet where you can connect to them to listen.

Good Luck, Old Salt

Thanks for making it more clear

No it is not possible to connect a smart antenna to a USB port and use your software to receive radio waves.

It is however possible to connect a Flex Radio or a Software Defined Radio (SDR) via a fire wire or USB port and then use software to control the radio and provide via software some of the functions traditionally performed by functions in an analog radio receiver.

To receive Radio Frequencies you must have some sort of LC circuit to tune to the correct range of frequencies. This is normally accomplished with an inductor and a capacitor and then the specific signal that you want to detect is converted down to a lower frequency until the intelligence or information contained in the radio wave can be decoded or demodulated and sent to a device to allow one to hear the detected information.

But look at Flex Radios and Software Defined Radios, this would be the closest one can come presently to having the radio and computer act almost as one.

If you have a Droid phone, there is an free app (Scanner Radio) that lets you listen in to police/fire/etc for many places in the world.

Droid phone is it for real ?

can you give me any link or model to check out in ebuy

I have that app on my Moto Xoom Wi-Fi tablet (Droid 3.1) also. Works good, though I hope they add more coverage for my area at some point in time.

Hooker