All radio frequencies around
the world are now available on one website. Which stations can I find
on FM or AM in my home town or any place I would like to travel to?
FMSCAN.org gives the answer. The project is 100% non-commercial and
ad-free. We would be happy if you could introduce FMSCAN to your
readers.
How does it work?
The most useful service is probably „Frequencies for any place“. You start with typing in your city ,town or village. This can be Sheffield, Albuquerque, Chiang Mai or Novosibirsk. It works for everywhere. Alternatively you can mark your position precisely on GoogleMap. Just one more click and a frequency list with all stations from 87 to 108 FM will appear. The list includes a prediction of reception quality for each station. This is a great help if you want to set the memories of your tuner or car radio. Maybe you find that the automatic scan of your radio has always overridden some interesting stations. Which is the strongest frequency of my favourite station? Which tower do they use? The list also contains many details such as polarisation and power.
The unique feature of FMSCAN is the signal prediction. Other internet sites only offer static frequency lists for various cities. FMSCAN calculates stations and their frequencies individually for each every user and his exact position. It works for every spot in the world. The calculation is based on experience. Power patterns, antenna height, topography and some other data are taken into account.
If you use the default settings, FMSCAN will list all stations that can be received by a quality car radio with a good antenna in a free position. Cheap alarm clock radios in cellars will only receive those stations which are highlighted in green.
The AM prediction depends very much on day- and nighttime. Details will be different for almost every minute. Even a short wave frequency prediction is possible, though this range is a little unpredictable with its constantly changing conditions, influenced by sun spots and other factors.
FMSCAN – 1000 options
Here is a list of additional features in brief. Look at the tour on the site.
Transmitter Maps: frequencies and coverage of a program
List all frequencies for a specific program
Search for free frequencies where a low power FM transmitter will cause least interference (in combination with MP3 players)
Links to stations and live streams
All features for FM and AM (long wave, medium wave, short wave)
Maps in FMSCAN style or in combination with GoogleMaps
Tower photos for a few locations
View towers on satellite pictures by GoogleMaps
Digital TV channels (only parts of Central Europe yet)
Additional FM ranges (65-74 Mhz CIS, 76-90 Mhz Japan)
Time and season specific signal predictions for AM
Technical details: distance, azimut, power patterns, height diagram, topographcal signal path, RDS parameters, ...
Map options: show/hide RDS, tower location, power, ...
Frequency list options: receiver antenna height and gain, filter countries regions or programs, sensitivity (threshold)
Predition for emphasized signals on FM and TV during special conditions (weather, ionospheric, meteor)
Search for short wave transmissions in more than 100 languages
Database of geographical coordinates for almost 6 million locations, combining multiple public sources
Regular updates for short wave schedules (major changes twice a year)
Database of AM offsets. This is about minimal deviations from the nominal frequency. This can help to identify spurs of distant signals on AM, very geeky stuff
Database of radio beacons. These are weak, morse coded signals on long wave, usually located on airports, lighthouses or oil platforms, with kind permission of the RWW database project
Who is behind FMSCAN?
All editors have one hobby in common: hunting the airwaves. The team consists of so called DX'ers and radio hams who enjoy the reception of distant stations with special receivers and antennas. The result is FMLIST, a database with about 200.000 entries. Supporters all over the world do their best to contribute information all the time. That is why FMLIST contains even some inofficial information about unpublished frequencies. For many countries, FMLIST is more up-to-date and comprehensive than the data collections of the authorities (if they're available at all).
The FMLIST concept is not exactly like Wikipedia. But registered users can report and prepare updates, the editors will have a look at every suggestion.
And there are a lot features for DX enthusiasts: They can exchange their logs in real time, view all distant FM or AM receptions of the day on maps and have a look at the history of receptions of a specific station (where and when has it been identified last?).
The FMLIST project started in the late 1980's in Freising, Bavaria, Germany. Back then, Günter Lorenz compiled his first list of all European FM frequencies in a printed version. The whole database has been online since around 2003. Günter Lorenz is a professional database programmer with his own software company.
Everything about FMSCAN comes from Peer-Axel Kroeske in Handewitt, Germany, close to Denmark. He works as a radio journalist, software development is just a hobby.
Editors are scattered all over Europe, we get support from radio enthusiasts all around the world.
The database uses postgreSQL, the web pages are in PHP.