Abuse of NOAA Weather Radio (all hazards)

[beaudodson]

So it is almost 1 a.m. and the NOAA Weather Radio sounds (in Kentucky) for missing children in Georgia. A statewide amber alert went out in Tennessee. I understand the importance of Amber Alerts but not from NOAA Weather Radio (now all hazards). At 12:30 at night? NOAA Weather Radio alarm sounds in Kentucky for a Tennessee Amber Alert - for missing children in Georgia.

I have had people tell me that they no longer keep their NOAA Weather Radios on at night - just because of these amber alerts.

What makes it worse is that they sound the alarm in Southern Illinois for missing children in Chicago. In my opinion this is an abuse of what the NOAA Weather Radio program was originally intended for.

NOW we have people requesting that NOAA Weather Radio be sounded for road closures. If there is a big accident on the interstate then NOAA Weather Radio should be sounded. Now that emergency managers can "make the call" - I believe we will see more abuses.

Anyone else have thoughts on all of this? Again, I understand the importance of amber alerts - just not at 12:30 a.m. on the NOAA Weather Radio.

blah

Curious what other people think about this subject.

 

[Jim Saueressig]

I think it should be an "option only" to allow it on your receiver if you want to receive them.

 

[Brandon Lawson]

But how are you going to implement an option like that on a single channel? Weather frequencies are for weather information, which means amber alerts should not be on the same channel.

 

[Mark Manchester]

If it was my kid I would want the information put out any way possible if it meant getting them back. As such, it doesn't bother me in the least to be woken up on the occasions it does goes off for an amber alert, even if it is for someone a hundred miles away (or more).

 

[Robert Edmonds]

The question that should be answered are more people likely to die because they turn weather radios off because of amber alerts, than the number of children saved? If the answer is yes then the amber alerts on weather radios should be stopped, if not they should remain. That's just my idea but I don't know which is right.

edit: If you can turn off alarms then leave the amber alerts...

 

[Mikel Shively]

If it was my kid I would want the information put out any way possible if it meant getting them back. As such, it doesn't bother me in the least to be woken up on the occasions it does goes off for an amber alert, even if it is for someone a hundred miles away (or more).

Im kind of with him on this. I know if it was one of mine, I would want all ways possible to get the information disseminated. I believe there is a way to turn those alerts off, on some (most) recievers that have S.A.M.E.capabilities.


I believe when they sound the alerts, they usually sound them the entire possible path of the abducted child, for example... if a child is abducted in Atlanta, and Law Enforcement has reason to believe they are going to Chicago, they will sound the alert for the entire possible path. Every state has different criteria though. If someone chooses to ignore the option to block the alert and just shut the thing off, then that, IMO, is foolish.

 

[D. Hayes]

I'm all for it, but only if they can signal the local area since that would be the most effective. Being in a small town I would drop everything to look for my towns kid day or night but I can't do anything except be a hazard for any other towns. Long range alerts would be pointless after sunset, it's dark and people won't bother. So then officials should use the local TV/Radio to it's fullest extent.

 

[Jim Saueressig]

First off let me say I have 3 young children, of course I would want to do anything to have them found....

That being said that the amber alerts are most often so wide that they are totally useless to 99.99% of the people that would hear them or be awoken to them. If a child disappears 70 miles away in a big city and there is any possibility they are headed for Mexico (common alert possibility here) then all of Kansas will often get the alert. That is pointless to me because I will not get out of bed for that nor would most other people. Now if it was just for my small town I would get up and go look for that child as well.

Beyond that if I was getting many worthless amber alert warnings at all I would also abandon the use of the weather radio at night just like I did the old non SAME radios because I could care less if a flood warning was raised in one of the many surrounding counties and got tired of being woke up by them. The new radio I have allows me to ignore any other county ( and maybe select the warning/watch type I receive. I haven't plugged it back in this year yet so can't remember if specific warnings was an actual option or a misstatement in the description when I bought it) so amber alerts should also be optional.

I think the following options should always be selectable on any weather radio as to whether you get the audible warning or not: County, Watch, Warning, Tornado, Severe Thunderstorm, Weather Statement, Flood, Flash Flood, Winter, Ice, Amber, Civil Emergency.

If all the above options are selectable then people will leave their radios plugged in and operational rather than unplug them and forget them because they are tired of alerts that are not important to them. I think that audible warning selectability could save far more lives in a single event than years worth of amber alerts ever would.

And as much as I would love to have everyone out looking for or at least informed of a lost child of mine or anyone else's for that matter I know that it will still do no good to send that signal to a radio that has been unplugged for that very same reason in the past.

 

[John Hudson]

I think the following options should always be selectable on any weather radio as to whether you get the audible warning or not: County, Watch, Warning, Tornado, Severe Thunderstorm, Weather Statement, Flood, Flash Flood, Winter, Ice, Amber, Civil Emergency.

I think these options are available on many of the better All Hazards radios on the market right now.

The radio model I own, for example, allows me the option of disabling many categories of warnings all together, such as avalanche or tsunami warnings.

Good thing, too. I don't think were likely to ever have to worry about either one in Winnipeg.

John

 

[Jeff Snyder]

I think these options are available on many of the better All Hazards radios on the market right now.

The radio model I own, for example, allows me the option of disabling many categories of warnings all together, such as avalanche or tsunami warnings.

Good thing, too. I don't think were likely to ever have to worry about either one in Winnipeg.

John

I was going to say that as well. Most newer models that I've seen (aside from the "clearance bin"-level radios) allow the user to decide which warnings, watches, and advisories will trigger the audio alarm... We may have the same radio (mine's not even that new -- it's 4-5 years old I think), and it allows me to have complete control over all alarms except for tornado watches and tornado warnings (which always sound the alarm). I just set up a new weather radio for a family member and made sure that I disabled the audio alarm for most of the advisories/watches/warnings so as to diminish any "alarm fatigue" that may otherwise lead them to turn off the radio altogether. Of course, I told them that I disabled the audio alarm for most of these (i.e. winter storm watch, flood watch, and others that are either likely to be issued with 3-4 am forecast package or will have very little effect on them).

 

[Mike Deep]

Same here - The weather radio I have has a "Tone Defeat" menu that allows me to select which events set off the alarm. That feature is essential, otherwise the dang thing goes off constantly for Special Marine Warnings, Flash Flood Warnings, etc.

 

[Danny Neal]

Call it SDS but I kinda like hearing it, its the anticipation of what it will read out to you. Similar to what a couple others have said....if it was my kid I would want people going door to door ringing doorbells at 4 AM looking for the kid/s. So it would not be an issue for me. I have one of those older ones where I can't program what's in it. I only get Flash flood, Special Marine, SVR, TOR, and SVR and TOR Watches.

 

[Brandon Sullivan]

Well, basically, being 16, I would want it out to everyone...

But I figure that probably 85 percent of people would keep the alert on even if they could turn it off..

I would say, that they should enable a turn off feature.. I have seen wx radios I believe that you can enable certain alerts only. That way if people want it off they can have it off

 

[beaudodson]

Im kind of with him on this. I know if it was one of mine, I would want all ways possible to get the information disseminated. I believe there is a way to turn those alerts off, on some (most) recievers that have S.A.M.E.capabilities.


I believe when they sound the alerts, they usually sound them the entire possible path of the abducted child, for example... if a child is abducted in Atlanta, and Law Enforcement has reason to believe they are going to Chicago, they will sound the alert for the entire possible path. Every state has different criteria though. If someone chooses to ignore the option to block the alert and just shut the thing off, then that, IMO, is foolish.

All ways possible?

OK, I think they should blow the civil emergency sirens to wake everyone up as well. Bring as much attention as possible to the situation.

See how silly this is?

I think a better option would be (and the NWS is discussing this) to sound the tone alerts during certain hours. Certain products should not be sounded between such and such hours. There are already some offices that are doing this. I would imagine not a single child has ever been found because the NOAA Weather Radio sounded.

How long until they sound the tone alerts for school lock downs? What about for an escaped convict? Public safety first you know. Forget the original purpose of NOAA WEATHER radio - it is not NOAA EVERYTHING RADIO.

 

[beaudodson]

On another note -

I think it goes without saying that we would ALL want everything possible done to find our children or our neighbors children. Nobody would suggest otherwise. At the same time though I believe common sense should be applied to every situation. This is why we DO NOT sound the civil emergency sirens for anything and everything. This should ALSO be the reason the NOAA All-Hazard Radios should not have their tone alerts set off.

We are going to lose more lives because of these policy changes than save. Once again "those in charge" seem to want to have some "feel good" policy in order to show they are doing something constructive.