Wx Alert on psr 600 info

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N4DXX

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Just for everyones information the weather alert on the psr 600 shows text on the warnings and works great mine has been going all nite a line of severe storms and tornado's ...coolest damn thing since the square wheel..Ha ha
 
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whitmec

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Since you had such luck with this, I'd like to ask a couple things. I'm assuming you've got your scanner turned on and have hit STBY and then the Wx button. It is then just siting there quiet until the storms come....correct?

I've set up my SAME for my local area (Seattle) and thought I had it ready to rock. Then some bad weather came through, and nothing...not a peep. I figure I have it set up wrong.

Did you happen to try and get anything from the local SKYWARN?

I guess I'm just confused between Wx priority, SAME and skywarn.

Thanks for any thought you might have.
 

N4DXX

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whitmec said:
Since you had such luck with this, I'd like to ask a couple things. I'm assuming you've got your scanner turned on and have hit STBY and then the Wx button. It is then just siting there quiet until the storms come....correct?

I've set up my SAME for my local area (Seattle) and thought I had it ready to rock. Then some bad weather came through, and nothing...not a peep. I figure I have it set up wrong.

Did you happen to try and get anything from the local SKYWARN?

I guess I'm just confused between Wx priority, SAME and skywarn.

Thanks for any thought you might have.
Well your on the right track i just did the fips codes for my area and activated the standby and whammo it went of and the text popped up on the display tornado warning..I use the psr edit software i just love the way you can manipulate all the settings..i never got to try the skywarn so i can't comment on that but had no problems with wx alert that thing is perfect..So just make sure your scanner software is saving your fips codes correctly and you should be good to go..
 

kikito

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whitmec said:
Did you happen to try and get anything from the local SKYWARN? I guess I'm just confused between Wx priority, SAME and skywarn.
The SkyWarn feature is just a special scanlist with quick access that you have to program for your own local frequencies or anything you want for that matter. So just activating it as it comes from the factory (empty), it won't do much.

The WX Alerts have two modes available. One is the WX Priority which is activated by pressing the "PRI" button while monitoring the weather channel you want. From there you can go back to regular scanning and the radio will be checking the channel periodically and it will set off the alarm if it detects the 1050Hz tone the NWS sends out.

When you use and activate SAME by pressing the "STBY" button, it'll set off alarms and show a text message on the display about the warning from the digital data embedded on the alert transmission and also unmute to let you hear the spoken message. The only drawback for SAME mode is that you can't do your regular scanning or anything else while in it.

Page 78 to 85 of the manual explains most of what you need about these features. The NWS also offers lots of info related to these weather warnings:

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

mcooke

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It's my understanding that the weather service is somewhat particular about when they send out a weather alert that would activate the tones on a weather radio. I think the general guideline is that they only send the alert if it is something that would require someone being woken in the middle of the night. Here in the Pacific Northwest, I don't think that would happen very often. You can always call the local weather service office in Seattle and ask them if they sent any alerts during the time period in question, then you would know if it's a radio setting or not.
 

kikito

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whitmec said:
I've set up my SAME for my local area (Seattle) and thought I had it ready to rock. Then some bad weather came through, and nothing...not a peep. I figure I have it set up wrong.

Have you tried it without setting any codes? Just letting it alarm on anything just to test? That would confirm the radio is working at least....
 

whitmec

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Haven't tried it without the codes. That would be a good start. We just don't get enough 'warning' type stuff in this area. I'll give that a rip.

Thanks to the others for your input. I just wasn't sure what the different things where.

I guess part of the fun is figuring this thing out.

Thanks again.
 

TPKeller2

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The NWS does do a weekly test message, usually on Wednesdays between 10AM and Noon. I tested my new PSR-300 this past week, the message came out at 11:45AM local time.

Theron
 
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