SAME alert codes, and is there really a purpose for this?

Wahoos4Life · #1 (**permalink**) 06-12-2009, 04:52 PM

I've ben playing around with the SAME alert codes mroe now on my pro 106 now that it is summer time and severe weather is more frequent.

Honestly, I just dont see the point.

unless if I am missing something, You have to have your radio on the WX band. Then with the radio on WX band you have to change it from stby mode to STBY mode. which basicly means your muting it untill an alert is issued and one appears on the screen.

in wich case you would take it off STBY mode to here the alret.

Im sorry this just makes no sense. why would I bother doing that when I could just leave it on stby mode and be able to here he WX band, I mean you are going to here the alert as soon as it is issued anyway, no?

It would make more sense to me if there was a way to where you could go to the WX band, put it on STBY mode, and then switch back to normal scanning operations and then when an alert is issued it would pop up on the screen telling me to switch over to WX band.

Now if this is possible and Ive ben unable to figure this out, please let me know. otherwise, I just dont see the use

rdale · #2 (**permalink**) 06-12-2009, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wahoos4Life

Im sorry this just makes no sense. why would I bother doing that when I could just leave it on stby mode and be able to here he WX band, I mean you are going to here the alert as soon as it is issued anyway, no?

Are you planning on sitting in front of your radio 24/7 and listen continuously, hoping you hear your county name? Doubt it... This keeps things quiet until an alert is issued for your county, then alerts you.

Quote:

It would make more sense to me if there was a way to where you could go to the WX band, put it on STBY mode, and then switch back to normal scanning operations and then when an alert is issued it would pop up on the screen telling me to switch over to WX band.

You'd need two receivers inside to do that. Which is why most people buy a $40 dedicated weather radio.

burner50 · #3 (**permalink**) 06-12-2009, 07:59 PM

Wirelessly posted (MINE!!!!11!!oneone: BlackBerry8130/4.5.0.77 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Its just another selling point, but really serves no purpose.

I simply bought a few dedicated weather radios.

rdale · #4 (**permalink**) 06-12-2009, 08:05 PM

I know quite a few people use it during the night... You aren't listening to the local EMS runs during your sleep, so you might as well put the scanner to good use for notification purposes.

w8jjr · #5 (**permalink**) 06-12-2009, 10:10 PM

Plus with a better dedicated weather radio I dont have to listen to marine warnings

scansalot52 · #6 (**permalink**) 07-07-2009, 12:03 PM

If you don't mind hearing all watches and warnings that are transmitted by the local NWS, you can set WX as priority. I don't think you'll see the SAME info displayed though.

rdale · #7 (**permalink**) 07-07-2009, 12:43 PM

You will not see SAME codes in WX Priority.

metz87 · #8 (**permalink**) 08-07-2009, 07:52 PM

Yeah who ants to be woke up at night for a strom 7 counties away that is not even headed your way?

APTN · #9 (**permalink**) 08-07-2009, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by metz87

Yeah who ants to be woke up at night for a strom 7 counties away that is not even headed your way?

7 counties away, no. 1 county away, yeah, that gives me time to take cover.

grumpy_hermit · #10 (**permalink**) 09-22-2009, 11:07 PM

I like the Midland WR-300. Along with the geographic selectivity provided by SAME codes, it allows users to disable alerts for various events. For example, I don't worry about flooding in my area so I have disabled flood related alerts. I've pretty much disabled everything but tornado, severe thunderstorm and high wind alerts since those can sneak up on us when we are asleep. Everything else in our area is pretty predictable. I have gifted this radio to my parents, siblings and friends and they were very appreciative.

Standard Disclaimer: No affiliation... blah blah blah... happy customer... blah blah blah...

kw5kw · #11 (**permalink**) 09-22-2009, 11:13 PM

in a $500.00 scanner it's a pure waste to use it as only a weather radio. Go to Walgreen's or Radio Shack and pick up a dedicated weather radio and enter the code for your area.

milf · #12 (**permalink**) 09-23-2009, 01:29 AM

I discovered last night that thee RS PRO-92 will sound SAME alert, and display warning message while just monitoring the WX chans.... Pretty cool.. We had some rough weather coming in, so I put it on the WX to monitor a bit before doing some CC decoding with Trunk88,... All of a sudden the warning tone and T-Storm Warning came on... About a second later the State emergency management alerted over the statewide TRS here about this same warning... So they serve a good purpose and are pretty cool tool too!

XTS3000 · #13 (**permalink**) 09-23-2009, 02:28 AM

Yeah, using a $500 scanner for a WX alert monitor is kinda crazy when a $50 WX radio will do the job just as well. However it is a nice feature to have in any scanner these days. Hey, the more usefull features they can pack into our scanners the better.

I use the 396XT to listen to the cops/ham on my way to/from work, but when at work I can't be bothered by constant scanner chatter, so I leave the XT on WX alert mode when storms are expected.

grumpy_hermit · #14 (**permalink**) 09-23-2009, 05:33 AM

I suspect that besides being something else to add to the feature list for the marketing folks, the weather monitoring feature was included for those times when someone might find themselves away from other sources of NOAA broadcasts/alerts. Say you are out running around, with scanner, and see something nasty rolling in. A quick push of the WX button provides the info that you need. Other than that, I don't see myself using my scanners' weather functions on an ongoing basis.

milf · #15 (**permalink**) 09-23-2009, 03:10 PM

The same reason they added it to CB's...

I even bet there is an "app"for the iPhones for NOAA lol!

scottaschultz · #16 (**permalink**) 09-27-2009, 08:52 AM

As a matter of fact, there are several weather alert apps for the iPhone. Unfortunately I only have an iPod Touch so I guess I will have to get my weather alerts the old fashioned way!