North Central Iowa Scanner System - NCISS

06/03/2026

Streams for Adair, Madison, and Wright Counties are now live in NCISS!

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06/01/2026

NCISS has hit the virtual finish line. For the time being, anyway. :-) I've added the last of the sites that I can hear reliably from my location, bringing to 9 the total number of ISICS sites that are being monitored. 13 individual streams are being shared among those 9 sites, including Boone, Calhoun, Carroll, Dallas, Greene, Guthrie, Hamilton, and Webster Counties; along with ISP-A, ISP-B, and Iowa National Guard. I'm going to review the TGs I'm seeing from those sites, and I will probably add a few more streams later in the week.

The purpose-built scanning appliance I'm designing is coming along nicely. The programming is complete, and I've moved into the case building stage now. I'll have pictures when it's done. I might even need a couple of people to be my "beta testers" for it when I'm done.

Thank you for your support and for using NCISS. As always, if you like what NCISS is doing, share this with your friends. That's the best form of support out there!

05/26/2026

Rock solid, folks. Rock solid. That's all I can say. Ever since the new PC went in service, NCISS hasn't missed a beat. Not once. And it's doing more now than it ever has.

I've been testing Hamilton County and the full line up of Dallas County over the weekend. I'll turn those on tomorrow evening. I'll add other streams soon, like the regional calling/TAC channels, for example.

It's super disappointing to see all of the Westcom traffic encrypted now, but sometimes, you just can fix irrational fear. Citizens listening to your general traffic is how you keep transparency, and honestly, if you're so worried about citizens hearing your routine everyday traffic - what are you hiding?

Thank you all for sticking with me through the growing pains. I feel like we've got a top-notch system now, and I can't wait to see where we go next!

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05/23/2026

A bit short of 24 hours, and the system has been rock-solid stable. I brought several new ISICS sites online today, and will update the website tomorrow once I'm totally certain we're good to go.

Right now, we've got excellent coverage for Boone, Calhoun, Carroll, Greene, and Webster. Also ISP-A and ISP-B. I'm pretty sure Guthrie is well covered, but I'll hold off on making that statement until I add their primary site. I also have traffic from Dallas County as a supplement feed to their primary site.

Next site additions are planned to be Guthrie's main site, along with another site each in Carroll and Webster.

After that, I'll look into adding Dallas County's primary site. That's a very busy addition.

Story County is not going to work until and unless I can get the antenna up higher. I can hear them, but not well enough to have a solid signal with no digital artifacts. Bummer.

I'll probably add a few more streams at some point too, like InterOp channels (regional TAC) and maybe Life Flight.

The standalone scanning appliance is coming along nicely too. I hope to have a beta model of that in the next week, maybe 2, tops. Stay tuned for that - I think you're going to like it.

Longer range plans include developing a way to ingest traffic from outside my immediate area and feeding it into the system. There are some logistical things I need to work out, but if I can work through those, the sky is the limit.

Again, I appreciate everyone's patience while we suffered through some growing pains. We're on the other side of that now.

05/22/2026

Late night, but NCISS is now running on the new system. All streams running. All recordings going. I appreciate your patience! I'll watch it over the next few days, but this should be a HUGE improvement over the old system!

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05/21/2026

Update for today:

1) The new computer did not arrive. Still running on the old hoopdy. I've cut back to just Boone & Greene County for now, and it SEEMS to be mostly stable. Still planning on the full upgrade happening this weekend at the latest. If we're luck, could be tomorrow evening.

2) All of the parts came in for the stand-alone streaming box! All I can tell you is... it'll be sweet. I'm super excited. 4" TFT touch-screen, WiFi to your network, then open your stream. No phone, tablet, or PC needed. I can't wait to show these off.

3) Anyone hear the call in Boone today? 300 gallons of gasoline spilled at Division & 4th. (Or Mamie Eisenhower, I suppose.) Still too bad BFD is encrypted so I can't stream that to you, but BPD at least had some traffic.

Again - thank you for sticking with me through the bumps in the road while I get the computer situation upgraded. It'll be worth it in the end.

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05/20/2026

I've been having some stability issues the past couple of days; the old PC is finally starting to show it's inability to handle the load. This causes the monitoring software to require a restart, sometimes a couple times a day. Relief is in sight! I'm targeting this weekend to get a new PC up and running that will resolve this problem. Please be patient - this is as frustrating to me as it is for you. I use the system myself, and I want to deliver a quality product. Stay tuned!

05/17/2026

Hi all - a couple of updates for the site:

1) The new computer was ordered last week; it's been shipped, and it should be on hand sometime this week. I'll install it pretty quickly, and that should take care of the stability issues we've had with the streams off and on over the past week or so.

2) As soon as the new PC is in place, there are two more site I want to investigate the possibility of adding: Calhoun County and Story County. Calhoun should be an easy add, but I'm not sure about Story County yet. That might be just a bit too far away from me. We'll see.

3) Upgrading the PC running the streams will also allow me to start sharing a few more counties that I can already hear, but haven't turned on yet. Hamilton, Wright, and Humboldt have traffic that's being carried on neighboring sites. I'll start turning those on. I'll also be able to turn on InterOp talkgroups, like the R1-TAC groups, or the Air Methods/Mercy (medivac) groups.

4) In the works is a stand-alone appliance that will let you listen to the streams on NCISS without having to use a phone, tablet, or PC. It'll be a custom-made device that connects directly to NCISS over the 'net to connect to our streams. That's still a few weeks away, but it's being planned right now, and construction on the test box should begin in the next 7-10 days.

To those of you using the site: thank you for your support! i started this as a side project so I could listen to traffic while away from home without needing another scanner. It's turned into something more, and I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am. The growing pains have been a bit frustrating, but there is light at the end of that tunnel - and I appreciate you sticking with NCISS!

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05/14/2026

Good changes today! I refreshed the website with new information, and turned on monitoring of a new site - this one in Lansboro, in Carroll County. That's all of the expansion that's going to take place until the new PC arrives and gets installed. But for now, that gives us solid coverage of Boone, Greene, Guthrie, Carroll, Calhoun, and Webster Counties. I'm also still streaming ISP Area A and ISP Area B, along with Iowa National Guard (ISICS traffic only).

There is a lot more to come. Stick around - and if you enjoy the site, please help spread the word!