Give Me Some Tips On Setting Up A NOAA-SAME Weather Alert Radio

[Villages Kahuna]

I just bought a Midland NOAA-SAME Weather Alert Radio. I was told that all the weather alerts applying to TV are broadcast from a tower in Sumterville. So when prompted, I set the radio to Zone 5 or Station 5, the only selection on the radio that provided much of a signal. (I guess that's the Sumterville tower.)

Is that pretty much all there is to it? The instruction book provided some information for programming in specific broadcast stations. I didn't do that because I was told that pretty much all the alerts now come from Sumterville (the "5" choice on the radio menu), not individual broadcast stations as was the case before. Also, I set the radio to get all the 'Alerts" not just the "warnings". Is that a mistake that will keep us awake every night it rains? Should we simply limit the setting to "warnings"?

Comments or suggestions from those of you expert in the use of the NOAA radios would be appreciated.

[villages07]

Kahuna,

If you only programmed in Channel 5, you will get all the alerts broadcast by Summterville...including any outlying county alerts they broadcast (Alachua, Citrus, etc). To get the best accuracy on alerts, you would program in the SAME codes for the counties you want (I have all 3 of the local counties) from the Sumterville tower.

Here's a link to NOAA SAME codes

http://www.weather.gov/nwr/CntyCov/nwrFL.htm

As far as types of alerts, you can limit them too...below was clipped from NWS website.

�All Hazards� messages include:
natural (e.g., tornado, hurricane, floods, earthquakes)
technological accidents (e.g., chemical release, oil spill, nuclear power
plant emergencies, maritime accidents, train derailments)
AMBER alerts
terrorist attacks.

Mine was going off like crazy last night. These radios really do work. Good investment!!!

[jadebox]

http://www.wftv.com/weather/index.html

The link has instructions by video and /or written.

012119 SAME Code Sumter county

[Happy Villager]

We have had the Midland Model WR-300 All Hazards Alert Weather Radio for over a year and am very happy with it. We have it set for A Single S.A.M.E. County Code 012119 which is Sumter County. The radio is also set choosing a "Voice" alert where the alert sounds for 8 seconds followed by 5 minutes of voice weather broadcast and then turns off.

The above setting allows any alert to be received for Sumter County only. We chose not to include Marion and Lake Counties because the radio would be sounding for areas that we do not live in and woudn't benefit us. The system works great. Setting the "Voice" alert has the alarm waking us if we are sleeping and then we can listen to the broadcast to see what the alert is for. If nothing serious we can go back to sleep after it automatically turns off in 5 minutes. When we have had the tornado watches or warnings we turn on the tv to visually see a map showing the area of Sumter County that is directly involved in the alert.

We purchased this on the internet after we reviewed the other models and brands and found this one to have the features we liked.

[rsetterlund]

Does the Midland Model WR-300 have a back up battery for when the electricity goes off?

[Happy Villager]

Does the Midland Model WR-300 have a back up battery for when the electricity goes off?


Yes it does and it also has an alarm clock and an AM/FM Radio. The directions to set it up are very clear and easy to understand.

[Sidney Lanier]

We picked up a basic, simple Radio Shack NOAA radio, a few years old, on ebay for a few dollars. Nothing elegant, no AM/FM radio, no alarm clock, just early warning even though the bells and whistles are nice features. Took it to the fire station and the firefighter set it up in a minute to tune into the tower in Sumterville (the same channel 5 mentioned earlier in this thread); she called the tower a name that I'd never heard of, but apparently that's where our signal comes from. We discovered today that it works just fine; the system is tested twice on Wednesdays, 10-noon and again 6-8, and we heard it both times. Otherwise the radio sits on our dresser very quiet. We tend to keep it simple....

[jjdees]

I set up my Midland to include surrounding counties to the west, north west, and south west plus my home county. If there's a tornado warning in a neighboring county, I want to be aware of it. I also set the siren on high.