NOAA Transmitter Failure During Hurricane Florence

[rescue161]

As of today, the NOAA transmitters are still down. Gas is a scarce commodity during disasters and you can only store so much. I had one tarp, but it was nowhere big enough for the damage. If I planned ahead for every single scenario, then I would have zero room (or money) for anything else.

 

[mastr]

...If I planned ahead for every single scenario, then I would have zero room (or money) for anything else.

That is probably similar to what the people at NOAA say when discussing their VHF transmitter infrastructure.

 

[rescue161]

But, they are in the business of providing a service that people depend on. I am in the business of protecting me and my family. There is a huge difference. I know ahead of time what the results of my decisions will be, but the millions of folks that depend on NOAA for alerts have zero choice on the decisions that NOAA makes.

 

[mastr]

I don't think that the VHF NOAA service is nearly as important in the overall scheme of things as it was 25 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised to see it go completely away in the next 20 years or so.

 

[KK4JUG]

I don't think that the VHF NOAA service is nearly as important in the overall scheme of things as it was 25 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised to see it go completely away in the next 20 years or so.

Perhaps the re-circulating weather information is not as important as it used to be but the watches and warnings are still as valid as they ever were.

 

[ResQguy]

I don't think that the VHF NOAA service is nearly as important in the overall scheme of things as it was 25 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised to see it go completely away in the next 20 years or so.

It's not, but until cellular service is treated as emergency communications or a "public service", it has to be maintained.

Anyway, what could it possibly cost to maintain a NWS transmitter? How about all of them? Certainly less than one F22.

 

[Jim41]

Depending on Weather Radio

I don't think that the VHF NOAA service is nearly as important in the overall scheme of things as it was 25 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised to see it go completely away in the next 20 years or so.

I depend on weather radio for watches and warnings - like tornadoes and thunder storms. I also depend on it for weather information when I have a power outage (with resulting loss of internet and TV reception).

Jim41

 

[rescue161]

I depend on weather radio for watches and warnings - like tornadoes and thunder storms. I also depend on it for weather information when I have a power outage (with resulting loss of internet and TV reception).

Jim41

I did as well, but now I won't trust it again. I put NOAA transmitters up there with public safety transmitters. Anything dealing with life-safety should never be down for this long. It's still down tonight as I type this. I'd be embarrassed if I were the NOAA admin. It does make me wonder, especially when the other member said that the NY NOAA site has been down for a long time, what the TV station is going to do next year for their Weather Radio Wednesday event if the transmitter is still down. I know I won't be volunteering my time to promote a service that is this fragile.

I own and maintain 9 repeaters and I manage to keep them on the air on my feeble budget.

 

[jim202]

What most people don't understand is just where many of these NOAA transmitters are located. Once you get out of a city, these transmitters are generally located on hills or mountains. The power lines to these transmitters are long and subjected to tree caused outage from storms.

When I lived up in New Hampshire, I actually did maintain several of these transmitters. Most of them did not have a backup generator to keep them on the air due to power outages.

The other issues are due to antennas that get damaged due to lightning damage or wind damage. It takes time to obtain a replacement antenna as no radio repair shop is willing to buy and stock a spare antenna for any NOAA and not get paid for holding the antenna in stock. Only when repairs are done does any radio shop get paid.

So the reasons any NOAA transmitters are out of service could be for several reasons. In some cases the weather service may not even know the transmitters are off the air. So it doesn't hurt to call the weather service and talk to them about any problems you may find with any transmitter.

 

[rescue161]

They know, at least they do here in ENC (Newport Weather Office). I'm not giving them a pass on their poor service to the affected area.

 

[AK9R]

You are in Onslow County, right? The NWS web site says that both KEC84 on 162.400 MHz and KXI95 on 162.425 MHz cover parts of Onslow County. NWS goes on to say that KEC84 is still down, but they say that KXI95 is operating normally.

 

[rescue161]

I'm on the NE part of the county and I'm not receiving any of the transmitters from my location.

 

[Boombox]

Sorry to hear about the extended outage Rescue161.

Your situation with NOAA is something that those of us in major earthquake country have to bear in mind when considering possible emergency information -- especially those people in rural areas that would (or will) be affected.

 

[CarolinasFeedNet]

There's no excuse for NOAA weather transmitters to be off for extended periods. Seems they're are the first to go off and the last to come back on during a disaster. Some have commented they don't have back up generators, why not? As the primary point of entry of the EAS they should be backed up as much or more as any public safety radio system.

 

[Jim41]

Question

I did as well, but now I won't trust it again. I put NOAA transmitters up there with public safety transmitters. Anything dealing with life-safety should never be down for this long. It's still down tonight as I type this. I'd be embarrassed if I were the NOAA admin. It does make me wonder, especially when the other member said that the NY NOAA site has been down for a long time, what the TV station is going to do next year for their Weather Radio Wednesday event if the transmitter is still down. I know I won't be volunteering my time to promote a service that is this fragile.

I own and maintain 9 repeaters and I manage to keep them on the air on my feeble budget.

Have you communicated with your Congressional Representative on this matter. Sometimes, they can be very effective in helping with local problems.

Jim41

 

[CarolinasFeedNet]

It's back!

 

[rescue161]

Good deal.

 

[CarolinasFeedNet]

It seems a little weak though

 

[kb4mdz]

Given that such large natural weather events as tornadoes & hurricanes can and do take down massive critical infrastructure such as water supply & wastewater treatment plants, electrical grids, roadways, bridges, food distribution, and others, I think you're being a liiiiiiitle bit overboard in criticizing NWS on not having these transmitters back in operation as quickly as you think they should be.

Yes, they are important parts of the distribution of WX information. Yes, they should be up as much as possible.

But they are also parts of larger systems, and may be deemed to be in a hierarchy of priorities that is different from what you expect or want. They could be off the air for any of a number of reasons, such as problems at the transmitter site itself (say, no power, and not tied into a generator system) or program distribution ie phone lines or whatever communications media between the Forecast Office & TX site.

 

[CarolinasFeedNet]

It's not that they are a convenient source of weather information, they are an integral part of the EAS. No commercial broadcaster was off for more than a few hours. Here in NC virtually all of the NOAA transmitters are co-located at a broadcast or public safety communications site so power is not an issue. It is just a matter of the government not wanting to spend the money to keep them up. A broadcaster can be fined if their WX radio receiver doesn't work but the government doesn't have to keep the transmitters on? To their credit almost every county in NC is served by more than one transmitter but that only works in as far as the average consumer knows the transmitter is off and how to change channels on their radio and can pick it up. To be Public Alert certified a weather radio only has to have .7 microvolts sensitivity which is pretty deaf, the exception are Reecom receivers which have about .25