The ways people listen to police scanners in Mower County is about to change. The county’s scanner traffic has officially hit the Internet, but current VHF scanners will soon be obsolete.

The sheriff’s office recently finished a www.broadcastify.com stream that will directly carry scanner traffic for the sheriff’s office, the Austin Police Department and the Austin Fire Department, which includes the small town departments, under the title, “Mower County Public Safety.”

“It’s more and more common that agencies are putting their traffic onto the Internet like that,” sheriff’s office Sgt. David Pike said. “It’s better off to have people informed than speculating themselves.”

Mower’s scanner traffic had previously been put up online by a private citizen with a VHF scanner, but that feed — like all VHF scanners — will go dark sometime within the next year. That’s because the county is nearing the finish of switch from the current VHF system to a 800 megahertz, digital system used by most other counties in the state. The Mower County board previously approved the switch to join the Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response, commonly referred to as ARMER. Through grants, the county previously purchased about 120 radio units for law enforcement, fire, EMT officials, and rural EMT and fire officials.

“All of our neighbors have made the switch so now its time to join them and enjoy its benefits,” said Pike, who has served as the system manager for the radio transition.

Pike described the digital signal as clearer and crisper, but that’s only one of the benefits for local law enforcement. The digital system is used by much of the state, so it allows agencies to communicate across county boundaries.

If a Mower County deputy were to travel to Duluth for a transport, Pike said the deputy could communicate with local law enforcement and with Mower dispatch.

“It gives us state wide radio access back to our dispatch,” Pike said.

That also allows counties to communicate easily with neighbors during disasters or events that may cross county boundaries. Mower is one of the last counties to switch to ARMER.

“We’re anxious to pull the plug on that VHF system,” Pike said.

The switch will happen within the next year, as county and city officials are working on the finishing touches to ready the digital system. Law enforcement radios are currently using a patch that allows the VHF system to fill in where there are radio gaps in the 800 MHz signal. But last month, the Mower County board approved a roughly $580,000 plan to update radio equipment on the 14th Street Northwest water tower near Wescott Field, a plan that would be paid jointly by the city of Austin and the county. Once work is done on that tower, Mower will go fully 800 MHz. It’s not yet clear when that work will be completed. Some equipment needs to be placed on the water tower, but city officials don’t want the tower left unpainted if equipment and new paint can’t be completed before winter for fear of rusting. That could push the project back to early next year.

Whether that work is completed late this year or early next year, Pike said VHF scanners will go dark sometime within the next year. That’s why county and city leaders wanted to get the official online stream up and running.

“If people want to keep listening it will be available there on the Internet,” Pike said.

Mower’s feed can be found at www.broadcastify.com/listen/ctid/1359. Broadcastify also features apps for smartphones.