NOAA Radio

[jcop225]

Does any one know of anyone outside the RF relm that use NOAA broadcasts for weather, as far as I know receivers of this band are on scanners, amater radios, and CB/Marine radios and dedicated weather reveivers, all of which are not in the possesion of the common consumer.

[ILMRadioMan]

You can buy recievers from walmart with the VHF weather channels programmed in.

They are 1 AA battery, little pocket recievers.

[ecps92]

What makes you say "Not in the posession of the common consumer"

You can buy a WX Alert Radio at Walmart, if so inclined.

Originally Posted by jcop225

Does any one know of anyone outside the RF relm that use NOAA broadcasts for weather, as far as I know receivers of this band are on scanners, amater radios, and CB/Marine radios and dedicated weather reveivers, all of which are not in the possesion of the common consumer.

[scanfan03]

NOAA weather radio would be useless if it wasn't used by the common consumer.

[jcop225]

I was just wondering beceause every time I listen in public I have had to explain it to alot of people what it was and how it works. just my 2c worth

[specman]

Originally Posted by jcop225

I was just wondering beceause every time I listen in public I have had to explain it to alot of people what it was and how it works. just my 2c worth

Despite campaigns to educate the public on how to protect themselves with these sorts of radios the message still hasn't sunk in for many. Nonetheless, many folks have these in the more storm-prone areas.

[ddoorman]

Having lived in Iowa for close to 30 years I can tell you that weather radios are very well known by the average person. For several years now the local TV stations have sponsored events to inform the public of such. These radios are either given away to the first some many people, are offered at reduced prices, etc. The demand is always there. We live in a state where tornadoes are common and ever bit of advanced warning is most welcome.

[W9RXR]

In Indiana, new mobile homes are required by law to have a NOAA weather radio. This came about after a tornado struck a mobile home park a few years ago causing 20 fatalities. The tornado struck in November in the wee hours of the morning and folks were not aware of the tornado warnings that NWS had issued.

Just like having a smoke detector, having a NOAA weather radio is just good sense.

[jaymatt1978]

A few years ago President Bush signed a bill into law providing ALL schools in the country, public and private with NOAA weather alert radio.

[ocguard]

There are also consumer and non-consumer grade devices that silently monitor the audio of broadcast AM and FM radio stations and decode the SAME and 1050hz alert signals. At the 911 center I worked at, we had one of these devices installed. It wasn't so much to receive the voice portion of the warning as it was to receive textual copies of the warning (produced by the SAME encoded data) and spit it out on a printer near the supervisor's desk. The receiver had a primary FM station, and, in the event it failed to receive quality signal level, would scan a group of other nearby FM stations designated as EAS stations. Cool toy.

At my volunteer fire station, we have a cold war era desktop receiver that monitors a local AM station. I didn't think it actually worked until it scared the pants off of me Thursday during a test.

[sjlamb]

Originally Posted by ocguard

I didn't think it actually worked until it scared the pants off of me Thursday during a test.

Ewwwww...

[gewecke]

Originally Posted by scanfan03

NOAA weather radio would be useless if it wasn't used by the common consumer.

NOT true at all! Almost ALL public school districts across the U.S. have them in operation,not to mention hospitals,factories,commercial broadcasters,colleges,etc. So how do you figure this??
N9ZAS

[N_Jay]

With the receivers popping up at Walmart and the corner drug store, I would think awareness must be getting fairly high.

[canav844]

Originally Posted by N_Jay

With the receivers popping up at Walmart and the corner drug store, I would think awareness must be getting fairly high.

I've also seen a fair # of people not understand what to do when the hazardous/tornado sirens go off, but there's some towns that have done enough public education that they use the same sirens for warnings when there's a HAZMAT concern at the towns manufacturing plant.

The point of this is some people will be better of hearing a siren, some will be better listening to a radio, some will do better with the weatherman on TV telling them what to do, some of us flip over to the local weather spotting HAM channels ...Officials need to be able to quickly activate all the means available to them to warn people, and it's up to the general public to have something in place that they know how to understand to act accordingly.

And yes there are dedicated weather radios, and there's even weather AM/FM alarm clocks (however they all look goofy and nothing my GF will let sit on her nightstand) that you can set to only tune in when there's an alert. And alot of companies are doing a good job of building them into other radio type things to encourage people to get the alerts.