Listener Manual

Learn how to use the Rdio Scanner web interface

Getting Started

The Rdio Scanner interface is designed to feel like a real police scanner. When you open the stream, you'll see three main areas: the LED indicator at the top, the display area in the middle, and the control buttons below.

💡

Quick Start: Just press the LIVE FEED button to start listening! The scanner will automatically play incoming transmissions from the active channels.

Understanding the Display

The display shows information about the current transmission. Here's what each line means:

Top Line Time • Listeners • Queue
Second Line System Name & Tag
Third Line Channel Name • Call Time
Fourth Line Talkgroup Name
Fifth Line Frequency • Talkgroup ID
Sixth Line Errors • Unit ID

Below the main display, you'll see a call history grid showing recent transmissions with their time, system, talkgroup, and name.

💡

Full Screen: Double-click the display area to switch to full-screen mode!

LED Indicators

The LED lights tell you the status of the scanner and buttons at a glance:

Solid Green — Active/On. Audio is playing or the feature is enabled.
Blinking Green — Audio is paused but ready to resume.
Red — Off/Inactive. The feature is disabled.
Yellow — Partial or playback mode. Some channels active, or playing archived audio.

Control Buttons

These buttons control how you listen to the scanner feed:

LIVE FEED

Starts or stops the live scanner. When active, you'll hear transmissions as they happen. This is the main on/off switch.

HOLD SYS

Locks onto the current system. Useful if there are multiple systems and you want to focus on one (like staying on fire calls only).

HOLD TG

Locks onto the current talkgroup (channel). You'll only hear transmissions from that specific channel until you release the hold.

REPLAY

Replays the current or previous transmission. Press multiple times to replay older calls from the history.

AVOID

Temporarily skips the current talkgroup. Press multiple times to cycle through: Avoid → Avoid 30min → Avoid 60min → Avoid 120min.

SEARCH

Opens the archive panel to browse and search past transmissions. Great for finding calls you missed.

PAUSE

Pauses audio playback without losing your queue. Perfect for answering the phone — resume when ready!

SELECT TG

Opens the channel selection panel where you choose which talkgroups to monitor.

Selecting Channels

Press SELECT TG to open the channel selection panel. Here you can choose exactly what you want to hear.

Groups Section

Groups let you quickly enable or disable categories of channels (like "Fire", "Police", "EMS"). Each group button has three states:

Green — All channels in this group are active
Red — All channels in this group are inactive
Yellow — Some channels in this group are active

Individual Channels

Below the groups, you'll see individual channel buttons. Toggle any channel on or off. A flashing LED means the channel is temporarily avoided.

💡

Don't worry! You can't break anything. Pressing buttons only affects what you hear — experiment and set it up the way you like!

Searching Past Calls

Press the SEARCH button to access archived transmissions. Our feed typically saves audio for 7-10 days.

Search Filters

You can filter calls by date/time, system name, group, channel (talkgroup), or tag. Select a system first, then narrow down with other filters.

Playing Archived Calls

Results appear in a list. Press the play button next to any call to listen. If LIVE FEED is off, playback mode will automatically continue to the next call in the list.

Tips & Notes

Why is there silence?

This is normal! There simply may not be any radio traffic at the moment. Some channels are also encrypted and cannot be monitored.

Queue backing up?

If you have many channels enabled during busy periods, calls can queue up and you'll hear them with a delay. Try enabling fewer channels.

Mobile Apps

You can also listen using the official Rdio Scanner app, available on both the App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android).