KC0QNB
Member
Just curious how many of the folks here have a dedicated weather radio.
Poll: WXR
- Thread starter KC0QNB
- Start date
- Status
Steve
Member
KC0QNB,
You left out a third option, Both.
I personally use a weather radio and one or more scanners for weather alerting.
Steve
KD4LCY
KAF9087
You left out a third option, Both.
I personally use a weather radio and one or more scanners for weather alerting.
Steve
KD4LCY
KAF9087
KC0QNB
Member
never thought about that wonder if I can edit the poll
Smerri
Member
I have my Midland on my desk.
Never bothered to Wx with the scanners.
Never bothered to Wx with the scanners.
scannerpro
Member
I dont,I just use a scanner
BMETduck
Member
We have our wx radio in our bedroom for the night time warnings, the scanners are downstairs on my desk.
As I speak, I have FOUR in front of me. One is an antique that is at least 15 or 20 years old, a midland, an oregon sci, and a uniden. All of them are only weather radios except for the uniden, it is a two way radio without same. The antique is a Weatheralert TA-25.
Bill_White
Member
When severe weather is threatening…
Skywarn is activated and I hear reports on the local repeater before NOAA weather radio.
Skywarn is activated and I hear reports on the local repeater before NOAA weather radio.
ScanManQSL
Member
When I am home I use my weather radio and scanners for weather alerting. I always monitor the local Skywarn net for WX reports. When I am out of the house I receives NOAA Weather Alerts via text message/Cell Phone.
KC0QNB
Member
I am not sure about you other folks, but my scanner is in my shack, my weather radio is on my bed table, the reason I started this poll in the first place, is this over the years I have heard all kinds of comments about why people don't have or use a weather radio, they range from "I am on cable they send out a notification" good reason, but most people around here anyway don't have their TV on 24-7.
"they set off the sirens to warn us" another good reason, I asked this question a few years ago of our county EM, he said the siren systems are set up is such a way that they are designed to be heard outside, not necessarily inside your home or business, granted if you are close enough to one of the sirens in your town you will probably hear it, if you live a mile or so away from the siren probably not, especially not in your house, that has been insulated correctly.
We had a situation at work a couple of weeks ago that the tornado sirens were set off, our store is about a block away from the railroad, we did not hear the sirens, but my weather radio went off.
Yes I know the weather service can be slow when sending out alerts, but is some areas they are the best we can do.
So at this time I must assume that the "no I use my scanner people", have their scanners on their bed tables and it is on 24-7, something tells me I am wrong on my assumption.
Here are a couple more reasons, I have heard over the years, one is, What is a weather radio?, another is they are too expensive, I don't know for sure but $30 seems like a pretty inexpensive life saver.
And last but not least (for this installment) I live in this county and the weather warning is for 5 counties away, with S.A.M.E. technology this is really a non issue.
If you have your radio programmed correctly you will only hear the warnings for your county, of course the smart people will program theirs for the county southwest of them.
"they set off the sirens to warn us" another good reason, I asked this question a few years ago of our county EM, he said the siren systems are set up is such a way that they are designed to be heard outside, not necessarily inside your home or business, granted if you are close enough to one of the sirens in your town you will probably hear it, if you live a mile or so away from the siren probably not, especially not in your house, that has been insulated correctly.
We had a situation at work a couple of weeks ago that the tornado sirens were set off, our store is about a block away from the railroad, we did not hear the sirens, but my weather radio went off.
Yes I know the weather service can be slow when sending out alerts, but is some areas they are the best we can do.
So at this time I must assume that the "no I use my scanner people", have their scanners on their bed tables and it is on 24-7, something tells me I am wrong on my assumption.
Here are a couple more reasons, I have heard over the years, one is, What is a weather radio?, another is they are too expensive, I don't know for sure but $30 seems like a pretty inexpensive life saver.
And last but not least (for this installment) I live in this county and the weather warning is for 5 counties away, with S.A.M.E. technology this is really a non issue.
If you have your radio programmed correctly you will only hear the warnings for your county, of course the smart people will program theirs for the county southwest of them.
I totally agree with you. The government should set something up to get one in EVERYBODY'S home in EVERY state because almost ANYTHING could happen almost EVERYWHERE! There is no excuse to have one...unless you live in one of the 3% parts of the country where there isn't reliable coverage...but they could put a tower there. They are not bothersome, bulky, or unnecessary. We will have to show this to the government and then show NOAA. I don't know if you all saw my signature a few weeks back...it said: The world's first NOAA weather radio...Thunder.
I since then changed it, but I might put it back.
Last edited:
KC0QNB
Member
Looks like a 2:1 preference for a separate WXR, thank you all for your input.
jon_k
Member
About 12 years ago we had a dedicated weather radio. Useless. If you set that thing on for ALARM it would turn on whenever a tornado watch went in to effect. Was waking us up every night! If a tornado warning is in effect, then we're talking. But wait till it touches ground before waking me up please.
The amateur radio repeater that I monitor all the time while awake and talk on with friends, also doubles as the Skywarn repeater that the NWS brings in to action. So when that gets brought into Skywarn mode, I know about it. This is what I use while I'm awake.
Last edited:
KC0QNB
Member
What do you use when you are asleep, or is the tornado passing over just going to take you with it?
I can agree that a watch is a waste of rf bandwidth, some of the newer SAME weather radios can be programmed to go off on certain things, or so I have read but they cost more.
I can agree that a watch is a waste of rf bandwidth, some of the newer SAME weather radios can be programmed to go off on certain things, or so I have read but they cost more.
rabidmoose57
Member
I use all of the above...
When things start to go south, I rely on the weather radio to wake me up, and the scanners to keep me informed. I also have weather alert messages on my celphone that come from a local tv station. Never hurts to stay informed wherever you are!
When things start to go south, I rely on the weather radio to wake me up, and the scanners to keep me informed. I also have weather alert messages on my celphone that come from a local tv station. Never hurts to stay informed wherever you are!
My biggest gripe with weather radio, even with SAME technology, is that here in Oklahoma, alerts are often issued for multiple counties. So even if I just have Oklahoma County programmed in SAME, it's still gonna wake me up whenever there's a severe thunderstorm watch for "Canadian, Cleveland, Kingfisher, Logan and Oklahoma Counties." And we have bunches of severe thunderstorm watches/warnings every spring/summer.
That wouldn't necessarily be so bad, but whenever there's a NWS update about the storm in Kingfisher County, it's going to be included in a new message -- not specific to Kingfisher County -- but one that updates the alert for Canadian, Cleveland, Kingfisher, Logan and Oklahoma counties. So I wake up again, even though there's no new update specific to just my county.
In reality, after about two times of waking me up at night, I turn it off entirely, which renders it useless. Of course, by that time, I've got the scanner on listening to the spotters and the EOCs of the surrounding areas.
That wouldn't necessarily be so bad, but whenever there's a NWS update about the storm in Kingfisher County, it's going to be included in a new message -- not specific to Kingfisher County -- but one that updates the alert for Canadian, Cleveland, Kingfisher, Logan and Oklahoma counties. So I wake up again, even though there's no new update specific to just my county.
In reality, after about two times of waking me up at night, I turn it off entirely, which renders it useless. Of course, by that time, I've got the scanner on listening to the spotters and the EOCs of the surrounding areas.
jon_k
Member
Exactly our problem in the DFW area. We have about 10 counties that the NWS in Fort Worth issues alerts for. The problem is, the alerts get transmitted to all counties. Like I said, back when we relied on this in the rainy season we could get woken up 4-5 times.
It will have to just blow me away I suppose. When you deal with 50-60 warnings for about 6 counties around you that alert your radio -- what can you do?
When I have to get to work early in the next morning and it takes me 30 minutes to get back to sleep anyway, it's not worth finding out there is a "tornado watch" 3 counties south of me.
I'd rather get away with years of restful sleep then wake up in fear and have radio-induced insomnia 3-4 times a night, throughout the entire tornado season.
- Status