Baltimore NOAA 162.4 Weak

[bwhite]

Does anyone know why NOAA Wx out of Pikesville comes thru so poorly to the north (can't speak for any other direction)?

I get State College NOAA just fine all the way down to Balto. I think the NOAA site says they're both 1000 watts. I live on top of a pretty high hill.

Thanx.

 

[mlevin]

It works great for me....wait I'm in Pikesville...never mind

 

[doctordave]

Good for me in No Balt Co.... the signal strength is about equal to that of 162.55 & 162.5 from here.

 

[Admin0140434]

works fine at BWI Airport

 

[bwhite]

Interesting,
I've tried this from several northern locations using probably 1/2 dozen diff radios/scanners. Signal is barely readable.

 

[pratzert]

NOAA Weak Sugnal

Bryan,

I agree with you. The Baltimore Freguency of 162.40 mHZ "IS" VERY weak. Comes and goes for some reason.

I get the New Jersey Frequency in stronger often times.

I don't know what gives, but it's been that way for a long time.

I never used to have to raise my weather radio antenna up, but now I have to have it fully extended in order to get the signal.

I live in Kingsville and work in Dumb-dalk. It's the same at each location.

Tim

 

[Dispatcher308]

They are having alot of problems with that Transmitter NOAA is aware but at this time funding is tight to fix it. I can barely copy it on my weather radio in North Baltimore Co.

 

[bwhite]

Not that they are gonna do anything about it, but,
I'd like to touch base with them to see what the story is.
It almost sounds as if the broadcast is directional.
Where did you get the info? I'd like to follow-up,
we pay big taxes up here too. Ha!Ha!

 

[Spleen]

Sitting here in downtown Baltimore, strengths are as follows as I type this:

162.40 S4
162.50 S4
162.55 S0 (barely readable)

 

[bwhite]

That sounds like the number of bars I'd expect at that location due to your close proximity to the tower. Strength seems to fall off much more rapidly than it should if their power is what is stated on NOAA.gov.
My guess is that it ain't firing on all cylinders (less than max output); this is a great disservice to anyone depending on the wx alerts that would emminate from there (since they wouldn't get them).

 

[bear105]

I checked my WX Alert radio and sure enough...it was set to 162.40Mhz. I noticed that I didn't get any of those WX statements on it from the last round of snowstorms. Changing freqs now...

 

[bwhite]

That's what I mean,
If they want tornado warnings and such to be effective the signal has to get from Pt A to B.

 

[messman24]

I have noticed that as well the NJ comes in clear as can be, never get much out of the pikesville, i live in Abingdon (Harford County) and work in White Marsh (Balitmore County).. this has been this way for over a year..

 

[RyanXTS]

What would be the best course of action to take to get them to correct this? Perhaps there is an email address we could write to?

 

[bwhite]

Now that we've pretty much confirmed the pevasiveness of the problem and the public danger, you're correct we have to seek corrective action.
Anyone that has any contacts be they email, phone, snail mail, please contibute that info to this forum.
Thanx.

 

[bear105]

Looks like there is some info on the NOAA website...

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/recept.htm

 

[bwhite]

I just left a phone mssg for one of the guys listed as Media Contact letting him know that notice of this is fairly pervasive and that "the message" is not getting out when they send alerts.

 

[doctordave]

Might also be of some benefit to contact Dept Homeland Security, since they are relying heavily on NWS infrastructure to get security-related alerts out.

 

[doctordave]

While we are on this topic, just a reminder of a great & free service for text notification of weather alerts, security info & amber alerts - all user selected. Website is emergencyemail.org - text updates to cell, pager, e-mail, blackberry. You can even select the hours of the day in which you do not wish to receive alerts.

Dave

 

[bwhite]

Wx Contact

Got a call back from both a NOAA radio engineer and the Public Service Officer (seperately). I clarified the info I left the PSO on Sunday with both of them. They were/are unaware of signal radiation problems but will investigate, any outages to fix such must be done at off hours (usually early Sun mornings). They mentioned that the equipment is > 30 years old so no surprise. Told them that No Penn stations, Jersey, Hagerstown, So Md, often come in clearer than Balto/Pikesville 20 miles away. They have been looking into relocating the transmitter/tower for some time but wouldn't give specifics.

PS--Dr Dave, tried to sign on to the site you just mentioned for pager alerts but it never asked for a pager number.