Weather alarm radios

[Ed Schoenborn]

Why should the public buy weather alarm radios when the NWS will NOT give the public time to turn on the radio after the alarm sounds to hear the alarm. Here in Raleigh one has less than five seconds to get to the radio to hear the watch or warning. Then one has to stay tuned for at least five or ten minutes to rehear the watch or warning.

 

[Jim Saueressig]

Usually they are automatically turned on with the alarm for up to 5 minutes or so.... Should be a setting for it.

 

[AlDanks]

I think what Ed is saying is that one only has about 5 seconds to switch from alarm to the voice setting to actually get the details of the warning.

Ed, my Oregon Scientific WR602 automatically switches from the alarm to the voice. Still have to get close enough to the room with the radio to hear it though. 5 seconds really only works if the radio is in the same room.

 

[Brandon Sullivan]

Thats how many are now.. they tone out for the three tone bursts or are activated by the 1050hz Tone. then they will switch on to voice. again it assumes you have the radio on you or can hear it. mine also has a display shown type and duration of warning.

 

[John Gnuechtel]

I've got a Midland WR-300. You can tune it to only go off for your county. When there is a warning, it makes the alarm sound for 5 seconds and then switches to the weather radio station issuing the warning. It will continue broadcasting audio until the initial warning message is complete. It also shows a text display of the warning type.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Meanwhile, most you hear on radio stations around here in your car go on for a whole season before the words come out. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep beep beep beep and sometimes another form of beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep and a pause. I love the warning tones they do on the radio that then are never followed with any wording.

 

[Jeff Duda]

Mike,
My weather radio (a Radio Shack product), does this for warnings:

Dodedodedodedodedodedodedodedodeododedodedode--Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

And then goes on to voice the warning text automatically. If you don't get up and hit the switch on it, it will beep loudly about every 30 seconds after the warning is spoken until you do. What I hate most is being awakened at 4:30 AM for "tests" of the system, or for high wind warnings, both of which have happened in the last 2 months.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

My radio goes

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee beeeeeeeeeeeeeepppppppppp wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee wooooooooooooooooooo

 

[Ed Schoenborn]

Al Danks is correct. I have to manually turn the voice on each time. Most times I am in some other room from the alarm so by time I can reach the radio to turn the voice on the message is half over and not repeated for at least five minutes. Even in the middle of the night when I am sleeping with the radio in the same room how does one wake up, get out of bed, walk to the radio to turn the voice on in less than five seconds. Who in the general public wants to get up in the middle of the night and listen to five minutes of routine blather before hearing the warning repeated. Most would turn the radio back off, go back to sleep and then be killed if the tornado hit.

 

[Jay McCoy]

Al Danks is correct. I have to manually turn the voice on each time. Most times I am in some other room from the alarm so by time I can reach the radio to turn the voice on the message is half over and not repeated for at least five minutes. Even in the middle of the night when I am sleeping with the radio in the same room how does one wake up, get out of bed, walk to the radio to turn the voice on in less than five seconds. Who in the general public wants to get up in the middle of the night and listen to five minutes of routine blather before hearing the warning repeated. Most would turn the radio back off, go back to sleep and then be killed if the tornado hit.

That must be an older model then since most now switch to the voice warning after 5 seconds and many now also display the text.

And if people choose to go back to bed thats their stupidity. Obviously the alaram went off for a reason. if they dont want to wait a few minutes for the warning to repeat they can easily turn on the tv to see the warning but at least they are now awake and alert that there is a danger. If they ignore it after that they get what they deserve. I suggest investing in a new model and solving all your issues. The $30 is worth it.

 

[Andrew Pritchard]

My weather radio goes...

 

[Jarrod Cook]

Mike,
My weather radio (a Radio Shack product), does this for warnings:

Dodedodedodedodedodedodedodedodeododedodedode--Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

And then goes on to voice the warning text automatically. If you don't get up and hit the switch on it, it will beep loudly about every 30 seconds after the warning is spoken until you do. What I hate most is being awakened at 4:30 AM for "tests" of the system, or for high wind warnings, both of which have happened in the last 2 months.

The NWS does not do tests at 4:30 AM. Not sure what you were hearing or what set the alarm off. Also, they are not supposed to tone out for High Wind Warnings at that time of day, either. See here for DMX: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dmx/?n=nwr

For warnings here issued by ILX, one does not have to wait 5 minutes to hear the warning again either. The system goes into a severe weather mode and cuts out most of the routine broadcasts until the warning expires.

The model NWR I have actually decodes the EOM (End of Message) burst which is nice. So when a warning is issued, there is the alarm, then it plays the voice, then shuts it off when you hear the final 3 bursts at the end. It's nice because I don't have to get out of bed (although, I usually do anyways to check radar out of curiosity )

 

[John Wetter]

Al Danks is correct. I have to manually turn the voice on each time. Most times I am in some other room from the alarm so by time I can reach the radio to turn the voice on the message is half over and not repeated for at least five minutes. Even in the middle of the night when I am sleeping with the radio in the same room how does one wake up, get out of bed, walk to the radio to turn the voice on in less than five seconds. Who in the general public wants to get up in the middle of the night and listen to five minutes of routine blather before hearing the warning repeated. Most would turn the radio back off, go back to sleep and then be killed if the tornado hit.

I haven't seen this type of a radio sold in many many years. Every weather radio I've seen on the market will either just start the voice, or sound an alarm during the tones and then cut to the voice. In your case, it isn't a matter of how the NWS is handling the warning, but how your radio is decoding it and alerting you. That is a matter that is completely out of the NWS's control. Your complaint should be directed toward the radio manufacturer. Overall though, it sounds like you need a more modern weather radio.

 

[Brian Hurst]

I am thinking about getting another radio for home and thinking about wr-300 midland.By my understanding you can turn warnings off like flash flood warnings if you dont live in low lying area its not fun being woke up at 3 in morning for flash flood or flood.Any ideas on the best radio?

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

I have a Midland WR-100 programmable weather warning radio. You can buy them at WalMart for about $30-35. I think I paid $30 for mine 6-7 months ago.

You can program up to ten freq's in it. It is the kind of item that you can bring with you on storm chases. For example: you are in a motel overnight in KS in the middle of May trying to get some sleep - if there is anything that suddenly should become a threat you are warned.

You could spend more money on bigger/better radios; but the Midland's simplicity and cost are quite fair. You will have to learn how to program it to the freq's that apply to your needs - but that is a momentary 5-10 pain.