Radio Same Weather
Radio Same Weather
NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is a network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Service (NWS) office. It is operated by the NWS, an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the United States Department of Commerce. NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts National Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts and other hazard information 24 hours a day. It also broadcasts alerts of non-weather emergencies such as national security, natural, environmental, and public safety (see: AMBER Alert) through the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Emergency Alert System.
Operations
Known as the Voice of NOAA's National Weather Service , NWR is provided as a public service by the NOAA. As of mid-2009, NWR has more than 1000 transmitters serving 95% of the United States' population, covering all 50 U.S. states, adjacent coastal waters, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and Saipan. NWR requires a special radio receiver or scanner capable of receiving the signal.
The radio service transmits weather warnings and forecasts 24 hours a day. In addition to weather information, NWR works in cooperation with the FCC's Emergency Alert System, providing comprehensive weather and emergency information. In conjunction with federal, state, and local emergency managers and other public officials, NWR also broadcasts warning and post-event information for all types of hazards, including natural (such as earthquakes or avalanches), environmental (such as chemical releases or oil spills), and public safety (such as AMBER alerts or 911 Telephone outages).
Many television stations which have the capability (both commercial and public) will also air their local feed of NWR on their second audio program channel if they aren't carrying a program which features either a Spanish language translation or a Descriptive Video Service track for the visually impaired. Some digital subchannels which carry weather information may also have NWR airing in the background, while regular television stations carry the audio during times they are off-the-air and transmitting a test pattern, in lieu of a reference tone.
Most stations broadcast on a special VHF frequency band at 162 MHz, which has seven FM channels reserved to weather radio broadcasts. The original frequency was 162.550, with 162.400 and 162.475 being added later. In recent years, the proliferation of stations meant to make sure everyone has access to warnings has pushed that number to seven, now including the "intermediate" channels of 162.425, 162.450, 162.500, and 162.525 MHz. These channels (often numbered in that order) are receivable on special weather radio receivers, available by mail-order and at some retailers, on most marine VHF radio transceivers, Amateur radios, and on scanners. These "weather radios" are available for prices ranging from US$35 and up. In addition, many consumer electronics, such as two-way radios and CB radios, are now being sold with the ability to receive weather radio broadcasts. With the American digital television transition making most portable televisions obsolete and unusable, along with the need to provide a public service to their viewers and encourage the use of the system, many American television station weather operations cooperate with radio manufacturers and local retail outlets to offer weather radios at discounted pricing to viewers (especially in active tornado areas), where the service is often marketed as an essential warning device on par with a smoke detector for home fires.
There are two different channel numbering systems used by various weather radio manufacturers. The first is the chronological sequence that the radio frequencies were allocated to the service: 1=162.550, 2=162.400, 3=162.475, 4=162.425, 5=162.450, 6=162.500, 7=162.525. The second is in simple increasing radio frequency sequence: 1=162.400, 2=162.425, 3=162.450, 4=162.475, 5=162.500, 6=162.525, 7=162.550. In addition, it may be possible to receive weather broadcasts on more than one of the seven channels at a given location. The NWS suggests that users determine which frequency (as opposed to channel) is intended for their specific location so that they are assured of receiving correct information.
Alerting
When a weather warning is issued for the area which a station covers, certain weather radios are designed to turn on or sound an alarm upon detection of a 1050 Hz tone, issued for ten seconds immediately before the warning message. The specification calls for the NWS transmitter to send the 1050 Hz tone for 10 seconds, and the receiver to decode it within 5 seconds (any extra tone time over and above the decode time is considered as part of the alerting mechanism). This system simply turns on the audio of every muted receiver within the radio horizon of the transmitter (i.e. any receiver within the transmitter's "footprint").
Newer radios can instead detect a digital-over-audio protocol called Specific Area Message Encoding or SAME, which allows the users to program their radios for specific geographical areas of interest and concern, rather than for an entire regional broadcast area. The SAME code is broadcast, followed by the 1050 Hz tone. This has the advantage of eliminating the numerous "false alarms" for the 1050 Hz weather alerts that may apply to an area 100 or 150 miles (240 km) distant. The SAME codes are mostly aligned along county lines using the standard US Government FIPS county codes. Most modern SAME equipped radios can be programmed to receive alerts for more than one FIPS code if the user is located along a county boundary.
Once the SAME receivers are programmed they will limit alarms to only certain warnings, and only to the actual section of the broadcast area which the listener is located prior to the broadcast of the 1050 Hz tone. Some receivers allow you to program in several codes so you can include the areas surrounding your location. For example, if an area has frequent storm warnings, and the storms usually come from the east, a receiver can be programmed with the code for its own area, plus the code for the area to the east. (This notification system was later adopted by the Emergency Alert System—the replacement for the earlier Emergency Broadcast System and even earlier CONELRAD) now required by the FCC for broadcast stations.
In September 2008, Walgreens announced that it would utilize the SAME/NOAA system to deliver local weather alerts via their system of LED billboards located outside of the drugstore chain's locations built or remodeled since 2000 to provide an additional avenue of weather information. Many national billboard companies (i.e. CBS Outdoor, Clear Channel Outdoor, Lamar, etc.) also use their color LED billboard networks to display weather warnings to drivers, while state-owned freeway notification boards, which utilize the EAS/NOAA infrastructure for Amber Alert warnings, also display weather warnings.
NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards Programming
Routine Forecast Products
The NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards network has a multi-tier concept for forecasting or alerting the public to all types of weather. Actual products vary by the area that the transmitter serves. The main public forecast products typically played during the day's program cycle are:
Hourly Observations
A typical hourly observation report updated twice hourly at the top of the hour and at eleven minutes past the hour heard over NOAA Weather Radio stations features the following:
-
- A complete detail of the current sky condition, temperature, dew point, humidity, wind speed/direction and barometric pressure for the main reporting station in that station's city of license. If the main reporting station's information is unavailable, the nearest reporting station to that area is played first instead, in which case that area's observations will not be repeated at the end of the observation product.
Example from KWN-41 Shubert, Nebraska: "At 8 AM in Falls City, it was sunny. The temperature was 60 degrees, the dewpoint 59, and the relative humidity 97%. The wind was west at 6 miles (9.7 km) an hour. The pressure was 30.00 inches (762 mm) and steady." In some locales, in the event the main reporting weather station had missing data, or no data available, the following message would thus be played (example from KWO-37 Los Angeles): The report from Downtown Los Angeles was not available .
-
-
Details on the sky condition, temperature and wind speed/direction (sometimes including information on d
NOAA Weather Radio, NWS WFO Duluth MN
NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) is a radio system designed to broadcast continuous weather ... What is NOAA Weather Radio SAME?
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARINE PRODUCTS VIA NOAA ...
However, entering the SAME geographic code for Maryland, '024000', would not alert the user of any marine weather events. SAME EVENT CODES At present, consumer radio equipment ...
NOAA Weather Radio SAME Info
NOAA Weather Radio. . . the voice of the National Weather Service. NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) broadcasts National Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts ...
Weather Radio Same
NOAA All-Hazards Weather Radio: SPECIFIC AREA MESSAGE ENCODING (SAME) The National Weather Service has made significant improvements to NOAA Weather Radio that allows listeners to ...
RadioShack® Desktop Weather Radio w/ SAME Alerts - RadioShack.com
RadioShack.com- Buy - RadioShack® Desktop Weather Radio w/ SAME Alerts - Monitor local emergencies and inclement weather with this desktop weather radio..
NOAA Weather Radio
NOAA WEATHER RADIO County by County Coverage ... territory below and locate your county name and Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME ...
MIDLAND WR-300 Deluxe SAME Weather-Alert/ All-Hazard ...
Have up to the minute information during tornadoes, hurricanes, ice and snowstorms, floods and more. Plus, SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) technology allows you to ...
Amazon.com: Midland 74-250C SAME Handheld Weather Alert ...
In Stock. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
Weather Radios Emergency Alert All Hazard Radio
Weather Radio Store sells the entire collection of Oregon Scientific, Midland, First Alert and Reecom Noaa emergency weather radios.
Radio Shack 1999 SAME Weather Radio
Radio Shack's 1999 SAME Weather Radio ... Radio Shack's New 1999 SAME Weather Radio (12-250) by Richard C. Rhodes, K5OQ
-
Details on the sky condition, temperature and wind speed/direction (sometimes including information on d