Best Weather Radios? Worst? Discuss.

[Aaron Kennedy]

And then when you do need help, they try every tactic to sell you on something better than what you really need.

Aaron

 

[Matthew Havin]

I've had a Midland handheld (250 SAME) since 2003.... and an Oregon Scientific before that for several years. Both were nice. The Midland has been more durable than I thought it would. The antennas leave much to be desired.

I'm curious, does anyone have a Midland WR-300 base station? Good/bad?

And yes, Radio Shack is terribly annoying with their sales model. I rarely shop there anymore due to being treated like fresh meat every time I walk into the store.

 

[Skip Talbot]

I'm using a radio shack desktop weather radio with SAME, a backlit display, and a remote temperature sensor (which I don't use). I got an adapter to run it off the car's power, but it also has a battery to keep the time. Some adhesive velcro on the bottom keeps it securely seated on the center console.

The radio is nice in that it automatically finds the channel with the strongest signal for you. Its not meant as a mobile unit, so when you have to switch stations while on the chase, going through the menus can be a pain. My work around for that is to pull the power plug and push it back in. The radio resets itself and finds the best channel.

I actually find that annoying tone useful. It goes off without having to listen to constant cycling of the dialogue, and a tap of the button turns it off and switches to the warning The display lights up with the warning type as well.

The reception is decen't, but doesn't compare to what my ham rig can pick up with the external antenna. I managed to snap the antenna off on my weather radio while fumbling around in the dark during a chase in Minnesota. Now its held on by electrical tape, but still picks up a signal. I'm thinking about replacing it with an external antenna, which I'll probably have to make myself. Then I'll get good reception and not have to tie up one of my ham receivers when I lose reception.

 

[Doug Lee]

Thought I'd bring this back up to the top since storm season isn't too far away and people might want to consider adding a wx radio to their equipment list, if they don't have a wx radio already.

My first was a Radio Shack (actually it was a Realistic, which tells how old I am). It was cube-shaped, small tuning knob on the bottom, a bar along one side toggled on/off, no alert feature.

Now all of my ham rigs have three memory channels with the NWR freqs used in Oklahoma in them. That way I don't have to carry my handheld Midland wx radio with me, unless I want to pick up NWR and still monitor other freqs.

Then, I could carry my PRO-95 scanner. I set WX as the priority channel.

I mainly use the Midland handheld to listen to while getting dressed in the morning. Of course, I try to catch the Hazardous Weather Outlooks during storm season, since I effectively don't have Internet access at home.

I also have a Midland desktop model, new and unopened. I won it at a ham radio club Christmas Party, just like I won the handheld a few years ago.

 

[George Tincher]

My first NOAA WX Radio was a Midland base model bought by my family in 1982. It was one of the funny shaped ones that sat on a base, the top portion was thin and narrowed toward the top and had a brown colored case. It was used for years and provided good service.

Sometime around 1990 I bought my first police scanner and haven't used a traditional weather radio since. The one I currently have is a 100 channel Uniden Bearcat that has the tone alarm feature. Interestingly, the alarm on mine sounds like a cow mooing. LOL. It will most definately wake you from the deepest sleep however.

For travel use (and for taking to my storm cellar), I have a Uniden 100 channel SportCat portable/rechargeable that I use.

I prefer scanners since they can be used for so many other things (monitoring of HAM nets, police, fire, EM, etc). They just seem like more bang for the buck.

-George

 

[carey libby]

i have no problem with RS.we have two of them and in both places,they know me.i have taken them out to my car and showed them the inside and outside.since then,when i walk in,they all go out of their way to help me.they even call other stores in the surrounding areas to find what i need.
the best cb/wx radio that i have is my Cobra 25 which i bought off one of my friends back in 99' for $25.it has a built in tone alert that goes off(even when not in use)to alert for weather alerts.
it has been in three car wrecks and got a bath during one chase and it still works.been with me for 6 years now and still going strong.

 

[Saul Trabal]

A bump for the start of the chase season. 8)