PRO-197/106 Weather and SAME code problem

[morrisr3nd]

On Christmas Day when all the tornados were coming through the area, I was testing out my weather scanning with the SAME codes. I had my local station (162.475) set for priority and had my local code (28073) entered in along with SVR, TOA, TOR. My problem is when the scanner went off on an alarm it was for every other area around me and not just for my area. What am I missing? What could be wrong?

My understanding was that it would only alert for my area for the alerts that I have set. Just as more info I don't have ANY *** set in the scanner or wildcards set anywhere.

Any help would be appreciated.

[rdale]

SAME codes do not work when scanning. The scanner must be in dedicated weather mode - not getting anything else.

Priority just uses the 1040Hz tone.

[Spitfire8520]

Priority only checks the WX frequency once every 6 seconds, for 200 milliseconds each time it does it. This is certainly too short to check for a SAME code. A standard for a EAS activation includes a 10 seconds All Hazards alert tone (1050 Hz), so it would be easier to look priority to look for that. There are days where I certainly wished a $400 digital scanner would have the capabilities of being able to monitor a single WX frequency in the background that a $30 dedicated WX radio could, but then again who knows how much more they'd tack on for that feature.

[morrisr3nd]

Thanks guys. I thought it was something like that. You would think that as much as we pay for these things we could get those benefits. I guess that I will just have to dedicate to weather during bad weather.

Happy new year everyone.

God Bless.

[rdale]

That would require a totally separate receiver inside. So the cost goes up due to the complexity. People that really need this info in SAME format should just spend $30 on a dedicated receiver.

[thomasbillman1]

here is where the problem is, just put in the S.A.M.E. code for your county and or countys near by you. No need to put in the FIPS codes. Your scanner is already set up to activate for any FIPS codes that the S.A.M.E. codes activates. It works very well. During high weather danger set the weather frequency as priority, this way your scanner will still scan and if an activation is set out it will go directly to the activation. Once the warning is set out the scanner will go back to scan. This is whats nice about this scanner. also set up your storm spotters in your fav so this way all you have to do is hit FUNC Weather it will go directly to the storm spotter frequencies that you have entered.

[rdale]

Originally Posted by thomasbillman1

here is where the problem is, just put in the S.A.M.E. code for your county and or countys near by you. No need to put in the FIPS codes.

I think you have it backwards... But the point is - if you don't want to hear specific types of alerts, you need to put in the type that you do.

During high weather danger set the weather frequency as priority, this way your scanner will still scan and if an activation is set out it will go directly to the activation.

You are confusing the two types of alerts. As mentioned above, you cannot filter based on location if scanning weather in priority mode.

[mainetrunk]

I didnt know what the -same- was until I was in Kittery at a dock. I looked in my rearview mirror, and saw a black horizon. I turned on the wx, and my 106 gave an alarm about a bad t-storm. Ever since then I programmed it in correctly, but I dont thunk its all set. See, I use my skywarn program for is -only- fire/ems. But the area code and all that was adjusted by the best pro 106 programmer I know.. Me.lol...Dont matter-got tv, radios-batteries/rechargeables, ready for any storm.

[pioneer13]

I have a pro-106 and i was looking at entering the fips codes but im not completly understanding what they do. If some one could help me from what i thot if you entered that in for your county you would get the alerts while you were scanninh your regular police band and stuff like that but if somw one would please help me out

[Spitfire8520]

Originally Posted by pioneer13

I have a pro-106 and i was looking at entering the fips codes but im not completly understanding what they do. If some one could help me from what i thot if you entered that in for your county you would get the alerts while you were scanninh your regular police band and stuff like that but if somw one would please help me out

They are also called SAME codes, and they're sent in a encoded signal in front of an Emergency Alert System (EAS) activation. It basically tells your radio the location the EAS is being activated for and whether or not it will go off (only in SAME Standby).

It should be noted that you can set WX priority (refer to the Easier to Read Manual) which will alert you for ANY activation, not just for your county. It will also interrupt your scanner as it checks this. It cannot monitor 2 frequencies at the same time and is actually impossible to have your scanner do area specific alerts while scanning. If you want area specific alerts, you're either going to have to do standby mode or get yourself a weather radio.

I hope this answers your question.

[morrisr3nd]

You can find the SAME codes for your area here:

NOAA Weather Radio