# NOAA Weather Alert radio



## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

Merry Christmas All!

Last night I moved my weather alert radio from the garage to my nightstand, it was a part of winter storm preps.

That was a huge mistake!

It woke me up about 6 times due to a 'heavy rainfall warning' .

Last night, it went off several times around supper, I actually turned the Alert switch on the back to OFF but it still alerted me. It is obvious that I don't know what the OFF switch is for but it certainly doesn't stop the alerts from coming through.

Oh well, at least I know that the radio is tamper proof and can not be disabled by my son or wife.......time to move it into the kitchen


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## Denton (Sep 18, 2012)

Our cell phones went nuts a couple nights ago due to a flood warning. Dumped a gallon of adrenaline into my system for no good reason. Cell phone is now left next to the computer at night.


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

That's the SAME alert. Its supposed to only go off if your particular county is threatened. But seems to go off all night. I had two handheld weather alert radios with same. I chucked them

I now use a very old handheld frequency scanner with a wx weather button. It let's me control it. And the off switch actually turns it off.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Mine hasn't been that silly. It has gone off for some Amber alerts tho. Since I can't adjust the volume of the alert tones on my Midland #WR120, I ended up putting tape across the speaker grill to mute the sound but had to increase the volume of the speech to hear it ok. I keep mine in the den and can still wake up to it. When it was in the bedroom, my wife threatened to smash it due to the super high volume of the alert tones. But it's worth the nuisance to me. With a super, super busy railway 3 miles west of me, I get a tad nervous of a hazmat spill.


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## Boss Dog (Feb 8, 2013)

If it has the S.A.M.E. system, you are supposed to be able to program it to only alert for your area by using assigned code numbers. The model I have in a central room goes off after 5 minutes by itself. I can listen to it and decide if it is important or just roll over and go back to sleep.

NOAA Weather Radio - SAME


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

What he said. ^^^^


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

I'll have to look into the SAME feature, if I could get the alert down to just once per night, I could live with that.


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

SAME works well for us! I have my county and 3 other counties programmed in. If alarm goes off I can silence it or listen to whole message.
My alarm also has a watch and or warning light on it so a quick glance at it when walking in the house will let you know something is up.
Midland model WR100


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

Followup: unfortunately my radio doesn't have the SAME feature. I shouldn't complain, I bought this radio from a farm supply shop for less than $7. 

Also, I learned what the ALERT ON/OFF switch does. 

ON - it alerts for 5 minutes and waits for me to press the broadcast button. 

OFF - it alerts for 10 seconds then broadcasts for 5 minutes without me having to press the broadcast button.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

So i guess i may have to turn the radio off during stupid alerts like a heavy rain warning. The 2 dozen alerts in the past 24 hours was annoying.

Too bad. I would prefer to keep it on all the time. Alert systems only work when they are on. How am i to hear about a chemical spill if they can't control themselves with heavy rain alerts. In fact, the last alert was heavy rain warning lifted.......wtf? Isn't that a bit like calling 911 to announce that you do not require help?


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

I turned on the alert feature on my eton crank radio once. Me and the wife almost had a heart attack at 3 am that night when we got blasted by an alert. Never again... on mine, if you turn it off it doesn't bother you anymore.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

I thnk because of all my years listen for the tones on the dispatch radio it didn't bother me a bad as the wife in the wee hours of the morning. But I got the ultimate too. That's why it's not in the bedroom anymore. But if turned off, you don't get the warnings that might save your life. I had multiple counties on the SAME codes programmed into the radio. I think it took me about a month to realize that was a mistake. The warning for the other counties usually didn't apply to me. Just one SAME code now. Weather wise, I could probably do without the radio. But then there is the railroad by me. During the monsoon season, it's usually an evil noisy monster, but necessary. The way I taped up the speaker grill, the wife doesn't even hear it any more, but I have to get up and go listen to the message.


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

True that you will miss the alert if it's off paraquack. I will generally turn it back on if it is stormy or severe weather is predicted. But I still leave it off when conditions are normal. When the siren goes off at 3 am I will most likely do one of the following:

A- Shoot the radio

B- Smash the radio

C- Die of a heart attack

D- All of the above

E- None of the above because the wife beat me to it.

So I usually keep it off unless conditions are right for a storm. Doing this will probably bite me in the butt one day. Oh well, it's the price I pay for a good night's sleep.


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## MI.oldguy (Apr 18, 2013)

Our WX radio has the same codes set for only three wx situations,Flood,blizzard and tornado.our county only.we don't have much of #1 and #3 but its handy.heavy snow,or others,I don't really care.we just deal with it anyway.

But,when the alert has gone off a few times in the last few years,I had to peel myself off the ceiling.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

I had a heart to heart talk with my wife. We agreed to leave the alerts on under the following conditions:
- we moved the radio to the kitchen
- we left the alert in the OFF state, so our alert will only last 10 seconds then it will switch to the broadcast for 5minutes before turning off ( totally hands free, we won't have to get out of bed)

We both admit that the heavy rain alerts yesterday were annoying, but we are going to see we if we can appreciate them. We are hoping for weeks at a time without any weather alert, so the few days when it is going off might not be that bad if we change our attitude about them.

I don't mind repeating that I think the alert radio is more important than the weather broadcast. I can get the weather reports from my cellphone, but only the alert radio will will alert alert my family about chemical spills, Amber Alerts(missing children), and whole list of SHTF scenarios that are extremely unlikely and I hope they stay that way.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

The radio has been quiet all week, but we are now getting another rainfall alert. 

My son complained about it, so I reminded him that alerts can be as important as our smoke detector, but it is for things that are happening outside the house. He seemed to understand this time.

Another rainfall warning went off as Im writing this, this time my wife and son pretty much went about their business after hearing that it is just a rainfall warning.


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## cdell (Feb 27, 2014)

Ours is in the kitchen and it's loud enough to wake me up at night. It doesn't go off very often so I typically pay attention when it does. I really like the idea of a tornado warning for my family in the summer.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

For anyone in canada or that know what the CBC radio is like, get a load of this....

A few nights ago, my alert radio went off. It was someone from CBC radio canada apogizing for go off the air, they were experiencing technical difficulties and were actively working on the problem

Wtf? If my favorite country music radio were to go off the air, I'd bet they wouldn"t set off an alert for that, and they are 10 times more important than CBC radio canada with their classical music so old, there is no copyright.


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## Salt-N-Pepper (Aug 18, 2014)

James m said:


> That's the SAME alert. Its supposed to only go off if your particular county is threatened.


Our nearest station covers an 8-county area... badly, I might add, you can barely get reception outside.

The station is nearly 50 miles from me as the crow flies


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

tinkerhell said:


> For anyone in canada or that know what the CBC radio is like, get a load of this....
> 
> A few nights ago, my alert radio went off. It was someone from CBC radio canada apogizing for go off the air, they were experiencing technical difficulties and were actively working on the problem
> 
> Wtf? If my favorite country music radio were to go off the air, I'd bet they wouldn"t set off an alert for that, and they are 10 times more important than CBC radio canada with their classical music so old, there is no copyright.


Probably just some nerd at the station who is bored out of his gord and set off the alert to spice up a boring graveyard shift.


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

I lived through an absolute awful tornado in April 1974 and my neighborhood was destroyed! My house was on the edge of it but everything
for a mile back toward town was gone! 4 people died just over the hill and I'll never forget seeing what I thought were well built 2 story 
houses reduced to just a foundation and really no trace there was even a house there! PLEASE find a way to use your weather alert radios!
YES you do get too many alerts but they just may save you one day!


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

While I was a youngster, I too experienced a savage tornado before warnings were ever thought of. As an adult and family man I felt the need for the alert radios as soon as I saw them. While I don't worry about tornadoes any more there are still weather related thing to worry about here. My biggest concern is the railway just 3 miles due west of me. It is heavily used, maybe 30 trains a day. Who knows what all type of hazardous chemicals they carry. All it would take is one derailment or crash with a semi. On top of that, there is a chlorine production facility farther south and west that concerns me too.

The people who don't like the inconvenience of the alert radios remind me of the people who complained about seat belts being an inconvenience. Seat belts have saved thousands of lives over the years. So will alert radios but only if you use them.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

OMFG! 

Today is a blizzard with 6"-12" of snowfall. 

I get it! I see it! I understand!

Stop sending out alerts every 20 minutes FFS!


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

They are just trying to make sure you know about the blizzard.


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

Hey, did you guys hear about the storm?

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

Scroll down and see the seven frequencies.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

I don't live where tornadoes or Hurricanes are a concern. There is a remote possibility of a moderate earthquake but there is no alert for that. We occasionally get a foot of snow in one fall but aside from that and some fog there is little reason for a weather alert radio. If you live in those areas then prepare for the worst. The two buildings that I built were built well beyond any earthquake standard for my area and exceeded the standards for wind loads and snow loads by a 50% margin. If I was ever to move to an area affected by tornadoes I would probably build undergound tied securely into bedrock with flood prevention built in.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

I am struggling with the urge to pull the plug on this alert radio. Although I want a system that would alert me of chemical spills, amber alert(missing children), changes in weather, etc. I don't want a system that disrupts my family with the same old alerts. In the past 24 hours, the system has gone off atleast a dozen times and there is no ryhme or reason to when or how often the damn thing goes off.

I guess I can always turn it off during weather warnings but that might lead to periods where it is not turned on.

I don't have a SAME radio however, I only have one channel that is active in my area.


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## cdell (Feb 27, 2014)

I'm pretty sure I can set mine for what warnings I want to hear about and the radio ignores the others.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

cdell said:


> I'm pretty sure I can set mine for what warnings I want to hear about and the radio ignores the others.


If you find that you are right about selecting which alerts set off the radio, please tell us all which radio and model#. It would be a fantastic revelation for all of us.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

I guess there are two issues that i find annoying. 

1)The radio goes off too many times for the same weather event. Dozens of alerts for the same winter storm is excessive, jmo.

2)Once the alert goes off, it takes a full 10 minutes before the radio turns itself off.

Possible solution: purchase a universal garage door relay with a key chain remote. If I wire the relay across the 'snooze' button on my radio, I will be able to shut off the radio almost imediately after the broadcast identifies itself as just another weather warning alert that i already know about.


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## tinkerhell (Oct 8, 2014)

Question: is there a smart phone app that can check the internet version of the NOAA system?


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Sounds like a good idea to search "Source Forge" for software that will do that. If there isn't one you could request it....


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

I have received amber alerts and tornado warnings on my phone, sometimes the cell company can send those out with no warning.

I also believe noaa is a channel on the scanner radio app, but it goes by area.


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

Heres more info.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/com/weatherreadynation/wea.html#.VMmAlk70BDs


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