Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Van Hoy, who writes:
After the recent tragedy in Texas, I realized a lot of people might be looking for weather radios. So, I decided to make a video on that topic which I believe will be informative for just about everyone.
Even some of the knowledgeable members will have a video they can refer their family and friends to for further education and guidance:
Click here to view on YouTube.
Thank you for making and sharing this excellent video, Dan!
The closest NWS station to me is one atop Green’s Peak, in Arizona, about 90 air miles away. There is one other, also in Arizona, which is closer, but very very weak, even a directional antenna doesn’t work.
The forecast from the one I’m able to hear, along with monitoring the barometric pressure, wind direction and speed, help to make an educated ‘guess’ as to what’s headed my way.
I’m in western New Mexico, atop a mountain, and it ‘seems’ that I would hear more. Also, a ham radio operator, relatively heavy involved in emergency circles. It’s a bad thing when virtually all of the west central part of NM gets no service.
The forecasts from Albuquerque (the nearest ‘local’ TV station)s 100 miles away often get it wrong, but we do the best we can. WA5SOX
Hello, I am blind and wouldn’t be able to see a display to set up a SAME radio, unless there is one that speaks the menus. Do you know of one that would do that?
Well, that’s what I’ve used to make a Poor Man’s EAS for Part 15 AM stations. https://archive.org/details/yepoormanseasrev2.1/Ye%20Poor%20Man%27s%20EAS%2C%20Diagram%2C%20rev%202.1%2C%203-8-2020/ So far, it’s been rockin’ since January 2020. BTW, when it comes to Weather Radio Stations, your tax dollars are paying for that, so might as well make use of it.
Now send this link to every person you know, every relative, every co-worker. Not just people on Texas…but perhaps Inundating every official in Texas wouldn’t be such a bad idea, especially after they said there was no way to warn people, that they needed a siren system. Disgusting. I teach FEMA courses, and every class I ask the students who are representative of the emergency management field, if they have NOAA Weather Radios and how many. It’s criminal when these professionals answer they don’t or they don’t know what it is! Midland needs to hire me.
Wow, total agreement!
Cheers, Jock
Dennis,
I checked the NWR coverage by county, and it looks like Kerr County has good NWR coverage.
https://www.weather.gov/nwr/sites?site=WWF90
But was anyone listening or had a loud alert turned on at 4 am?
Cheers, Jock
It sure does Jock. There was a Weather Brains session last week on this-Texas- on You Tube and if you scroll the comments, you’ll see me pushing back at the stupidity that exists with NOAA Weather Radio.
Excellent presentation and well worth the time.
For those who wish to see what the weather radio coverage might be in their area, please consult these:
https://www.weather.gov/NWR/station_listing
https://www.weather.gov/nwr/counties
NOAA Weather Radio is free. There are no commercials, you don’t have to wait for other programming to be completed to hear the weather forecast, and, because it is radio, you can listen and get a concise summary of what’s going on with the weather in your area while you are doing something else. Even better, the folks at the National Weather Service tell me that over 80 percent of the NWR transmitters have some form of backup or emergency power, many of which can continue to operate for 5-10 days while the main power is out. There is a wealth of information about NWR here: https://www.weather.gov/phi/nwrfaq scroll down to see details.
I guess I need to get out more and see the world. I didn’t know there was a SAME radio.
Excellent information.