50+ Live Feeds for Everything Happening Right Now — Click and Listen
50+ Live Feeds for Everything Happening Right Now — Click and ListenYour browser is a scanner for the whole world. No equipment, no apps, no permission — just click and listen.
Right now, someone is landing a 747 in Chicago. A cargo ship is crossing the Atlantic. A Russian military station is buzzing on 4625 kHz — and has been since the Cold War.
Think of this as a remote control for Earth’s invisible signals. Every link below connects you to a live feed of something happening right now — radio waves, flight paths, ocean routes, seismic activity, lightning strikes, even suspected spy broadcasts. No equipment needed. No subscriptions. Just a browser and curiosity.*
📻 Software Defined Radio (SDR) — Tune Into Any Frequency From Your Browser
Think of an SDR like a universal radio that lives on someone else’s antenna — and you borrow it through your browser. Real hardware, real signals, real-time. You pick the frequency, the mode, the location. Hundreds of receivers worldwide, each one sitting on a rooftop or a tower somewhere, streaming raw radio spectrum straight to your screen.
What you’ll hear: Amateur radio operators chatting across continents, shortwave broadcasts from countries you forgot existed, aviation weather reports, marine calls, mysterious number stations, and sometimes — just beautiful static from the ionosphere doing its thing at 3 AM.
| Receiver | What It Is | Link |
|---|---|---|
| WebSDR.org | The original. Hundreds of receivers worldwide running the classic WebSDR software. Pick a country, pick a frequency. | http://websdr.org/ |
| KiwiSDR | The most popular modern online SDR. 2 sources, multiple interactive maps showing every public receiver. Better UI than WebSDR, more features. | http://kiwisdr.com/public/ |
| KiwiSDR Maps | Find receivers by location — see coverage, SNR quality, and availability at a glance. | http://map.kiwisdr.com / http://rx.linkfanel.net/ / http://snr.kiwisdr.com |
| OpenWebRX | Open-source SDR platform. Growing network of receivers with a clean, modern interface. Supports tons of digital modes. | https://www.openwebrx.de/ |
| Receiverbook | Free directory of online SDR receivers worldwide — filters by location, frequency range, and type (WebSDR, KiwiSDR, Web-888). | https://www.receiverbook.de/ |
| Skywavelinux SDR Map | Curated map of the best-quality internet SDR receivers. Brighter = better reception. Click to listen. | https://rx.skywavelinux.com/ |
| Skywavelinux SDR List | Hand-picked list of the best-performing servers — filtered for reception quality. Auto-updates every few hours. | https://skywavelinux.com/best-sdrservers.html |
Best receivers to start with:
| Receiver | Location | Why It’s Special |
|---|---|---|
| University of Twente | Netherlands | One of the best in the world for signal quality and coverage. The gold standard. |
| Northern Utah WebSDR | USA | Multiple receivers, huge frequency range, mountain location = clean signals. |
| KFS SDR | Half Moon Bay, California | Legendary shortwave listening post. |
Direct receiver links:
- University of Twente: http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
- Northern Utah WebSDR: https://www.sdrutah.org/
- KFS SDR: https://www.kfsdr.com/
- KFS SDR (direct tune to 3870 LSB): http://websdr1.kfsdr.com:8901/?tune=3870lsb
How to actually use these: Open any receiver → you’ll see a “waterfall” display (bright lines = active signals). Click on a bright line → you’re listening. Change the mode dropdown (AM, USB, LSB, FM) depending on what you’re tuning. AM for broadcast stations, USB/LSB for voice comms and amateur radio, FM for local stuff. That’s it — you’re a radio operator now.
🕵️ Numbers Stations & Spy Radio — The Creepiest Thing You Can Legally Listen To
Somewhere on the shortwave band right now, a computerized voice is reading strings of numbers in Russian. Or Spanish. Or German. Nobody officially admits who’s broadcasting, but intelligence agencies have used these stations to send encrypted messages to field agents since World War I. They’re called numbers stations, and yes — they’re still active in 2026.
The encryption is called a one-time pad — mathematically unbreakable without the key. The station broadcasts numbers. The spy has a matching pad. They subtract the pad from the numbers and get the message. Anyone else hears… just numbers. Perfectly secure, completely anonymous, broadcast to the entire hemisphere.
| Resource | What It Is | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Priyom.org | The definitive numbers station research community. Live schedules, station profiles, logs, and a real-time activity feed. If a numbers station is active right now, Priyom knows. | https://priyom.org/ |
| UVB-76 “The Buzzer” | A Russian military station on 4625 kHz that has broadcast a monotonous buzz 24/7 since the late 1970s. Occasionally interrupted by voice messages in Russian. Possibly linked to Russia’s nuclear dead-hand system. Tune in via University of Twente SDR — set frequency to 4625 kHz, USB mode. | http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ |
| The Conet Project | 4-CD archive of numbers station recordings from around the world. Free to listen. The soundtrack to Cold War paranoia. | Search “Conet Project” on Internet Archive |
| Shortwave Archive — Numbers Stations | Curated recordings of active numbers stations including Cuba’s HM01, with context and analysis. | https://shortwavearchive.com/archive/category/Numbers+Stations |
Famous stations still active or recently heard:
| Station | Origin (suspected) | Signature |
|---|---|---|
| UVB-76 “The Buzzer” | Russia | Constant buzz, rare voice interruptions |
| HM01 | Cuba | Spanish female voice, number groups + data bursts |
| The Pip | Russia | Repeating pip sound, voice messages |
| Yosemite Sam | Unknown (New Mexico?) | Cartoon audio clip + compressed data burst |
How to hunt numbers stations yourself: Go to the University of Twente WebSDR → tune to frequencies listed on Priyom.org’s schedule → listen during evening/night hours (better propagation). Common bands: 3-6 MHz and 8-12 MHz. When you hear a repeating tone or music box melody followed by a voice reading numbers — congratulations, you found one.
✈️ Flight Tracking (ADS-B) — See Every Plane in the Sky Right Now
Every commercial aircraft broadcasts its position, altitude, speed, and callsign using a system called ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast). Think of it as GPS for planes, but public. Volunteer receivers on the ground pick up these signals and feed them to tracking websites — giving you a live map of virtually every aircraft in the sky.
The important difference: Some trackers filter out military, government, and private aircraft. Others don’t. That’s the gap between “nice flight map” and “why is a military C-130 circling over my city at 2 AM.”
| Tracker | What Makes It Different | Link |
|---|---|---|
| ADS-B Exchange | The most “unfiltered” tracker. Shows military, government, and private aircraft that others hide. No corporate censorship. Community-run. | https://globe.adsbexchange.com/ |
| Airplanes.live | Similar to ADS-B Exchange — community-driven, uncensored, different UI and community. | https://globe.airplanes.live/ |
| OpenSky Network | Open data platform — great for research. Good European coverage. Data is freely available for academic use. | https://map.opensky-network.org/ |
| AirNav RadarBox | Very detailed. Good coverage worldwide, feeder statistics, weather layers. | https://www.airnavradar.com/ |
| Flightradar24 | The most famous — but filters out some military/special aircraft. Best UI, most features, biggest community. | https://www.flightradar24.com/ |
| FlightAware | Strong coverage, feeder network maps, flight delay data. | https://flightaware.com/live/ |
| FlightAware Coverage Map | See where receivers are — and where the gaps are. | https://www.flightaware.com/adsb/coverage |
Pro tip: ADS-B Exchange is where the interesting stuff lives. Military tankers doing refueling patterns, coast guard searches, government jets — the stuff Flightradar24 hides because airlines asked nicely. Bookmark both.
🎧 Air Traffic Control (ATC) — Listen to Pilots and Towers Talk in Real Time
Every takeoff, every landing, every “cleared for approach” — it’s all happening on open radio frequencies. ATC audio isn’t encrypted (it can’t be — pilots need instant access). These feeds stream live conversations between pilots and control towers from thousands of airports worldwide.
What you’ll hear: Pilots requesting altitude changes, tower controllers managing traffic, emergency declarations, weather diversions, and occasionally — very calm professionals dealing with very uncalm situations.
| Feed | What It Is | Link |
|---|---|---|
| LiveATC.net | The gold standard. Thousands of feeds worldwide — towers, approach, departure, centers (ARTCC), even HF oceanic. | https://www.liveatc.net |
| Live-ATC (Vercel) | Clean, simple interface. 1000+ frequencies for free. Popular airports like ATL, JFK, LAX right at the top. | https://live-atc.vercel.app/ |
| Listen to the Cloud | The atmospheric one. Pick an airport, hear live ATC mixed with ambient music in the background. Weirdly relaxing. Perfect for late-night listening. | https://listentothe.cloud/ |
| FlightDisp971 (YouTube) | ATC recordings and live streams with visual flight tracking. Good for understanding what you’re hearing. | https://www.youtube.com/@flightdisp971/videos |
Start here: Open LiveATC → pick your nearest major airport → listen for 10 minutes. You’ll start recognizing the rhythm: callsign, instruction, readback. It’s surprisingly addictive once you understand the pattern.
🚢 Ship & Marine Tracking (AIS) — Every Vessel on Every Ocean
Same concept as flight tracking, but for ships. AIS (Automatic Identification System) is a transponder that every large vessel is required to carry — it broadcasts position, speed, course, destination, and vessel details. Volunteer coastal receivers and satellites pick up the signals and plot them on a map.
You can watch container ships crossing the Pacific, cruise liners docking in port, tankers navigating the Suez Canal — all in real time. Some platforms even show vessel photos, ownership details, and voyage history.
| Tracker | What Makes It Different | Link |
|---|---|---|
| MarineTraffic | The biggest. 3,000+ receiving stations, 550,000+ vessels in the database. Photos, ownership info, port arrivals. Free tier is solid. | https://www.marinetraffic.com/ |
| VesselFinder | Clean interface, real-time AIS data, good mobile experience. Free. | https://www.vesselfinder.com/ |
| MyShipTracking | Alternative tracker with port activity views and vessel search. | https://www.myshiptracking.com/ |
| AISHub | Raw AIS data exchange for enthusiasts. Feed your own receiver, get access to the aggregated global feed via API (JSON, XML, CSV). The nerdiest option — and the most powerful. | https://www.aishub.net/ |
| ShipFinder | Simple tracker with playback feature for viewing previous voyages. | https://shipfinder.co/ |
Why this is fascinating: Ships move slowly enough that you can track a single vessel across an entire ocean over days. Pick a container ship heading from Shanghai to Rotterdam and check back daily — it’s strangely satisfying to watch global trade inch across the map.
🛰️ Satellite & Space Station Tracking — Watch the ISS Fly Over Your House
There are over 24,000 tracked objects orbiting Earth right now — from the International Space Station to Starlink constellations to old Soviet satellites slowly dying in orbit. These trackers show you exactly where every one of them is, in real time, on a 3D globe.
The ISS orbits at 408 km altitude, completing a full lap around Earth every 90 minutes at 28,000 km/h. With these tools you can figure out exactly when it’ll be visible from your location — it looks like a bright, fast-moving star.
| Tracker | What It Does | Link |
|---|---|---|
| N2YO | Track any satellite in real-time. 24,000+ objects. Pass predictions for your location. The most comprehensive free tracker. | https://www.n2yo.com/ |
| Satellite Tracker 3D | Beautiful 3D globe visualization. ISS, Hubble, Tiangong, Starlink, and more. | https://satellitetracker3d.com/ |
| ISS Tracker | Real-time ISS position with orbit paths — past, present, and future. | https://www.isstracker.com/ |
| ISS Live Now | Live HD video feeds from the ISS cameras. Watch Earth from space, right now. Day side = stunning views of continents. Night side = lightning storms and city lights. | https://isslivenow.com/ |
| ISS & Tiangong Tracker | Tracks both the ISS and China’s Tiangong station with local observation times. Free embeddable widget. | https://iss-tracker.com/ |
| NASA Spot the Station | Official NASA tool — tells you exactly when and where to look to see the ISS with your own eyes. | https://www.nasa.gov/spot-the-station/ |
Try this tonight: Go to NASA’s Spot the Station → enter your location → find the next visible pass → go outside at that exact time → look in the direction it says. That bright dot moving steadily across the sky? That’s six humans living in a tin can at 28,000 km/h.
🔊 Emergency Scanners — Police, Fire, EMS & Rail Radio
Before encrypted digital systems took over, all emergency services communicated on open radio frequencies. Many departments still do — and these platforms aggregate thousands of live audio feeds from police, fire, EMS, railroad, and other public safety channels.
| Scanner | What It Covers | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Broadcastify | The biggest scanner platform. 7,000+ live streams — police, fire, EMS, rail, marine, aviation, and more. Searchable by location. | https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/ |
| OpenMHz | Alternative to Broadcastify. Often cleaner audio. Focus on digital trunked radio systems that Broadcastify sometimes misses. | https://openmhz.com/ |
What to listen for: Major cities have the most active feeds. Type your city into Broadcastify — you’ll hear real dispatchers sending real units to real calls. It’s the rawest, most unfiltered view of what’s actually happening in your city at any given moment.
🌍 Earth Monitoring — Earthquakes, Lightning & Volcanoes in Real Time
The planet is constantly doing things — tectonic plates shifting, lightning striking 100 times per second, volcanoes venting gas. These tools let you watch it happen live.
Lightning
| Tool | What It Does | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Blitzortung / LightningMaps | Community-powered real-time lightning map. Volunteer detectors worldwide pinpoint every strike as it happens. Watch thunderstorms crawl across continents. | https://www.lightningmaps.org/ |
| Blitzortung.org | The source project behind LightningMaps — more technical, raw data views, detector network info. | https://www.blitzortung.org/ |
Earthquakes
| Tool | What It Does | Link |
|---|---|---|
| GlobalQuake | The world’s first free full live global earthquake detection system. Watches seismograph networks worldwide, detects quakes in real-time, shows P-wave and S-wave propagation. 24/7 YouTube stream. | https://globalquake.net/ |
| USGS Real-Time Seismograms | Live seismograph readings from hundreds of stations. The actual wiggly lines you see in movies — except these are real and updating right now. | https://earthquake.usgs.gov/monitoring/seismograms |
| IRIS Station Monitor | Access continuous real-time ground motion from hundreds of stations worldwide. Click any station → see what the ground is doing at that exact spot. | https://www.iris.edu/app/station_monitor/ |
| EMSC | European-Mediterranean earthquake center. Real-time earthquake notifications, felt reports from actual people, and the LastQuake alert bot. | https://www.emsc-csem.org/ |
Volcanoes
| Tool | What It Does | Link |
|---|---|---|
| USGS Volcano Streams | Constant live video streams of active volcanoes. Just… volcanoes being volcanoes. Mesmerizing. | https://www.youtube.com/@usgs/streams |
The rabbit hole: Open LightningMaps during a big storm system → watch the strikes cluster and move across the map in real time. Then open GlobalQuake side by side. You’re now monitoring two completely different forces of nature simultaneously, from your couch, for free.
🚂 Live Railway & Train Webcams — The Most Relaxing Rabbit Hole
This one isn’t about data or frequencies — it’s about watching trains go by. Live HD cameras at railroad crossings, stations, and scenic routes around the world. Some people leave these running in the background all day. It’s oddly therapeutic.
| Platform | Coverage | Link |
|---|---|---|
| RailWebcams.net | 40+ live railway webcams worldwide — Japan, Germany, USA, UK, Czech Republic, and more. Timetables for each cam view. | https://railwebcams.net/ |
| Virtual Railfan | HD live cameras at iconic North American railroad locations. YouTube streams with alerts for approaching trains. | https://virtualrailfan.com/ |
| RailCam UK | UK-focused. Live lineside cameras, signalling diagrams, schedules. Free registration, active community. | https://railcam.uk/ |
| WebcamTaxi — Trains | Curated collection of the best railway station and line webcams worldwide. | https://www.webcamtaxi.com/en/trains.html |
Start with: RailWebcams.net → Tokyo Seibu-Shinjuku Railway Station. Watch Japanese trains arrive with mechanical precision every few minutes. Then switch to a freight line in rural Ohio. The contrast is everything.
Quick Hits
| Want | Do |
|---|---|
 Listen to radio anywhere on Earth |
→ SDR section — University of Twente is the best starting point |
 Track military aircraft others hide |
→ ADS-B Exchange — the unfiltered one |
 Hear actual spy broadcasts |
→ Numbers Stations — Priyom.org + University of Twente SDR |
 Watch a ship cross the ocean |
→ MarineTraffic — pick a vessel, check back daily |
 See the ISS with your own eyes |
→ NASA Spot the Station — next visible pass from your location |
| Watch lightning strike live |
→ LightningMaps.org — mesmerizing during storms |
| Watch a volcano right now |
→ USGS YouTube streams |
 Just… watch trains |
→ RailWebcams.net — pure therapy |
Every signal on this list is broadcasting right now. The only question is whether you’re listening.
!