Equipment for streaming NOAA Weather Radio

[kd0chr]

Now that weather radio is permitted on Broadcastify I've volunteered to provide the stream for my local area. I would prefer to use a regular weather band radio for this instead of keeping a scanner tied up for such a simple task. The issue I've found is that all the weather radios I've found that will run continuously from external power don't have a headphone or line out jack to use.

Is there a model that has the headphone or line out jack?

If not, what's your experience with wiring the speaker output directly to a 3.5mm cable?

I'm looking forward to providing this service as it can benefit many people in my local area but I wan't to make it the best experience that I can for both myself and the listeners.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

Just pick up a older, cheaper analog only scanner and set it to the weather frequency you need (162.400) and let it run. You can probably find one for $30-$50.

 

[W8RMH]

I have never seen a WX radio with a headphone or line out. As JeffDS3 stated just get a cheap scanner.

 

[kd0chr]

So much for me trying to be incredibly cheap. I just picked up a BC350A from eBay for $25 BIN and a ground loop isolator to help with the hum. Until it shows up I'll keep using my trunking handheld.

I'm honestly surprised with the stream. The feed has only been up for a few hours and already had several listeners. I knew there was a need for it, but wasn't aware it would take off this quickly. I appreciate the advice.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

That’s perfect. I was also going to recommend trying an AM/FM/WEATHER radio and just tune it to the frequency you need or if you feel like having fun, get an SDR and mess around with that.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

I'm honestly surprised with the stream. The feed has only been up for a few hours and already had several listeners. I knew there was a need for it, but wasn't aware it would take off this quickly. I appreciate the advice.

Some people like it just for sound of someone talking. When I’m driving big rigs, I’ll turn weather radio on sometimes when I need a mental break from podcast but don’t want quiet or music.

 

[mmckenna]

Another option is to pick up an old VHF mobile. You can often pick up old wide band VHF radios cheap. Something like a Motorola GM300, Icom F320 or the like. Some sellers will even program them for you.
They are often better receivers than the consumer grade stuff. They'll also have the outputs you need on the rear.

Been thinking of setting one up to stream NOAA locally here at work.

 

[kd0chr]

They are often better receivers than the consumer grade stuff. They'll also have the outputs you need on the rear.

Been thinking of setting one up to stream NOAA locally here at work.

I actually got to thinking about that while at work. We have a bunch of Motorola VHF business band radios that are in the junk pile. I found a couple that have scanning functionality. I'm the IT guy so of course I got stuck programming all the new ones to save a few bucks. At least I'm familiar with it now. I think I'll set a few back when I call up the electronics recycling company.

Now if I can get away with putting a RX only antenna on the tower we have for the repeater... Of course I'd have to make sure the uplink was using the backup ISP so corporate doesn't ask too many questions.

 

[M105]

I use a SDR dongle with a copy of FMP from the DSD+ package and route the audio to my stream server with VB Cable. Very neat setup with clean audio and it doesn't tie up a scanner or the sound card input.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

What’s the reception like for the signal you want to broadcast? You may not need to do anything fancy like an external antenna and you can shove it all in a corner and no one will know what it is. You may also be able to run it from your home if you have a dependable connection.

 

[kd0chr]

What’s the reception like for the signal you want to broadcast? You may not need to do anything fancy like an external antenna and you can shove it all in a corner and no one will know what it is. You may also be able to run it from your home if you have a dependable connection.

The signal is plenty strong. I was just thinking about what all I could do for fun with the tower at work. Same goes for the internet connection. I've got 75Mbps symmetrical fiber at work but about two miles away I've got 125Mbps down and 50Mbps up with the cable company at home.

I could get away with using a normal telescoping antenna inside, but I'll install an outdoor one anyway. There's a mast from a dish network installation on the roof outside my home office. If I don't make use of it soon the wife will make me take it down and I won't be able to put anything up there again. So in this case I'm better off doing a full out setup just to give myself future room to expand and change the setup if I decide to.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

Well if that’s the case, then go for it and have fun. Streams don’t use much data so I doubt anyone will notice. You also may want to look in setting up a backup stream just in case something happens at one site ( disaster, power outage, system crash, etc. ).