Pro-106: SAME Event Codes

[rogueangel2k]

I have a question about programming event codes. I'd like to only get alerts on tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings, but obviously during bad weather, I can't really test my scanner for fear of doing it wrong and missing a warning altogether. So... Has anyone had experience with SAME Event codes with the Pro-106? *** means wildcard, and then there's the 3 letter codes. TOR being tornado warning. Last week we had bad weather roll through and I had the TOR event code programmed in using all CAPS, and nothing went off on the scanner despite a warning being issued for my area. The SAME code for my county is correct. I'm wondering if I should have used lower case tor instead of TOR. Anyone have a guess or experience?

 

[marksmith]

Got tired of trying to figure it out. Also got tired of dedicating a scanner to this when weather radios do such a great job.

For a little over $50 you can get one of the best weather radios out there that actually activate and deactivate by code from all transmissions. The cheap ones don't deactivate correctly back to a wait "armed" state. Strongly recommend the Reecom R-1650.

You can enter up to 5 SAME codes for area counties, and all 30+ activation codes are available to roll through in description text to turn on/off.

Got mine a couple years ago and it is great. Also gave them as Christmas gifts a year ago and everyone tells me how great they are.

... and I can listen to my scanners to determine how emergency services are handling. I also note they sometimes repeat some of the NOAA announcements to police or fire.

Mark
536/436/WS1095/HP1/HP2/996T/996XT/996P2/396XT/325P2/PSR800/15X/others

 

[Spitfire8520]

Unfortunately I do not use my Pro-106 as a weather radio, so my experience is a bit lacking.

Were you parked on your local NOAA frequency in WX mode and were you using the SAME standby mode?

Do you have your SAME Code entry turned on? It should have a capitalized "EL" next to your entry and going into the menu should say "Entry: On" if you have the SAME Code enabled.

If your answer is "yes" to the above, then my only other guess is that perhaps they issued a TOA rather than a TOR. My Pro-106 appears to decode the event codes correctly, but I never really tried to program in a specific code.

I would agree that maybe a dedicated weather radio would work better and free up the Pro-106 for other purposes during a storm.

 

[rogueangel2k]

Pro-106

Thank you all. I think I'll go the dedicated weather radio route. Thanks again.

 

[marksmith]

I mis-spoke. The Reecom R-1650 handles and programs up to 76 different emergency codes as opposed to the 30+ I mentioned above. It's a great choice. I also got a couple other brands, but find this radio the easiest to understand and program. The others are in a drawer.

Mark
536/436/WS1095/HP1/HP2/996T/996XT/996P2/396XT/325P2/PSR800/15X/others

 

[DJ11DLN]

Thank you all. I think I'll go the dedicated weather radio route. Thanks again.

Wise decision. I've successfully used my Pro-197 for this in the past, and had no problem with it opening for the proper alerts, but a dedicated weather alert radio is the best solution. You need your scanner for other things when there's bad weather. WX alert radios are one of the best values for the money out there. Mine is a Midland I picked up at a yard sale but I'm going to get a Reecom because, while the Midland works fine for now, I've heard of people having them go deaf without displaying any symptoms...a deaf weather radio would be about as useful as a wrench made out of spaghetti.

 

[marksmith]

NOAA does a "radio check" around 11am every Wednesday nationwide.

Its just a test of the system, but good for making sure your radio is still alive.

It's usually all I hear most weeks, then the thunderstorm season starts and it goes off with regular alerts, including tornado warnings. Had a rare tornado warning last week in Maryland.

Mark
536/436/WS1095/HP1/HP2/996T/996XT/996P2/396XT/325P2/PSR800/15X/others