weather radio?

[billethkid]

Do you have one?
Effective?
Make/model?
We have a Midland...10-ish years old....set for Sumter County notifications....not a peep or beep last night!
Settings are correct?!
Shopping.

[villagetinker]

Ours, also a 10 year old Midland, went off 2 or 3 times last night into this morning, I am guessing you have a setting wrong. Also, this radio typically goes off for the weekly test.

[DonH57]

I've never owned one but I use the Sumter County Sheriff's Office App on my phone for weather and other alerts and notifications.

[Pinball wizard]

I received multiple phone call warning about the storm as well as txt messages. Also had messages from Alexa.

[villagetinker]

Weather radio just went off 11:50 am with a real flood warning.

[Maker]

There are 2 tests on Wednesday. Usually around noon and again around 6pm.
There should be a button to press to listen to the actual radio broadcast. On mine it is a 5" wide bar labeled "Weather Snooze". Try tapping that to make sure NOAA radio is being received. If not, maybe radio channel was changed. They are on 162.500 here.
There have been about 7 alerts in the past few days.
The radio will alert when it receives the FIPS code that is assigned to your county. Every county code is different, even though the radio is listening to the same radio channel. That's how we hear things for our area, and not for areas far away. Maybe the code was lost when batteries dies, and it was unplugged. Different generations of receivers maintain programming differently.

I have the Midland one. White. About $35. 6" x 6" Sorry, don't have model number available now. Works great. When it alerts, it plats for the duration, and goes back silent. The display shows the text for the type of the alert.

[Jameson]

I have a Midland WR400. About $75. Alerts are programmable by watches and warnings. I found some of the default alerts had it going off with what I consider minor alerts like stream flooding. I like it with one major issue. The volume of the audible alert cannot be turned down and it is extremely loud. Ridiculously loud in my opinion. I haven't found any hacks to adjust it other than cover the radio with something to soften the noise. The volume of the voice announcements is adjustable like any radio.

[Professor]

There are 2 tests on Wednesday. Usually around noon and again around 6pm.
There should be a button to press to listen to the actual radio broadcast. On mine it is a 5" wide bar labeled "Weather Snooze". Try tapping that to make sure NOAA radio is being received. If not, maybe radio channel was changed. They are on 162.500 here.
There have been about 7 alerts in the past few days.
The radio will alert when it receives the FIPS code that is assigned to your county. Every county code is different, even though the radio is listening to the same radio channel. That's how we hear things for our area, and not for areas far away. Maybe the code was lost when batteries dies, and it was unplugged. Different generations of receivers maintain programming differently.

I have the Midland one. White. About $35. 6" x 6" Sorry, don't have model number available now. Works great. When it alerts, it plats for the duration, and goes back silent. The display shows the text for the type of the alert.

This was very helpful. Thanks.

[jarodrig]

Do you have one?
Effective?
Make/model?
We have a Midland...10-ish years old....set for Sumter County notifications....not a peep or beep last night!
Settings are correct?!
Shopping.

I also have a Midland which is 10 + years old and works well . It went off 3 , maybe 4 times the night of the storm .

Take your radio to any fire station and they will properly program it for you.

[Karmanng]

Ours, also a 10 year old Midland, went off 2 or 3 times last night into this morning, I am guessing you have a setting wrong. Also, this radio typically goes off for the weekly test.

I have a Midland too but how do I correctly set it? It did go off 3 times in the last 2 days thou plus I do get weekly tests

[Karmanng]

I've never owned one but I use the Sumter County Sheriff's Office App on my phone for weather and other alerts and notifications.

thanks did not know we had a app for our county

[jarodrig]

I have a Midland too but how do I correctly set it? It did go off 3 times in the last 2 days thou plus I do get weekly tests

Owner Manual (download it if you don’t have it)

YouTube

Take it to your nearest firehouse where they will be happy to make sure it’s set up properly for this geographical area….

[TVTVTV]

I have an older Midland weather radio. Keep it in the bedroom for unforseen verbal night announcements mainly for tornado warnings. One of the first things I did when moving here was to reprogram the alerts I wanted (disable or enable each on the Midland). FL weather is different than northern weather. I do not want to be woken up repeatedly for watches. I tried that and got too many sleep interruptions. Hurricane watches and warnings take days to develop, so you have time to prepare. However, tornado warnings at night are unseen. Know your plan before you get an alert - what would you do? Stay in bed or go to the interior of your home? A nighttime tornado damaged hundreds of homes in TV in 2007. This week I decided to double check my tornado warning alert to make sure it was still "enabled," and it was gone from the alphabetical event list! Shocked, I Googled it, and it's been changed so it is not an option- warnings are required, which is how it should be. My Midland had it when we moved here, so I have no idea why it is no longer an option on mine - it's not like there was a software update. Also, there are unique S A.M.E. or FIPS codes for Lake, Marion, and Sumter counties, but they are on the same frequency. Lastly, make sure any weather radio you buy also has battery backup, and change these batteries annually.

[scubawva]

No need. Set your smartphone to receive alerts.

[CarlR33]

I have an older Midland weather radio. Keep it in the bedroom for unforseen verbal night announcements mainly for tornado warnings. One of the first things I did when moving here was to reprogram the alerts I wanted (disable or enable each on the Midland). FL weather is different than northern weather. I do not want to be woken up repeatedly for watches. I tried that and got too many sleep interruptions. Hurricane watches and warnings take days to develop, so you have time to prepare. However, tornado warnings at night are unseen. Know your plan before you get an alert - what would you do? Stay in bed or go to the interior of your home? A nighttime tornado damaged hundreds of homes in TV in 2007. This week I decided to double check my tornado warning alert to make sure it was still "enabled," and it was gone from the alphabetical event list! Shocked, I Googled it, and it's been changed so it is not an option- warnings are required, which is how it should be. My Midland had it when we moved here, so I have no idea why it is no longer an option on mine - it's not like there was a software update. Also, there are unique S A.M.E. or FIPS codes for Lake, Marion, and Sumter counties, but they are on the same frequency. Lastly, make sure any weather radio you buy also has battery backup, and change these batteries annually.A weather radio should not be your only one source you should have another backup or even a third. You should take full advantage of your smart phone assuming you and most have one anyhow.

[AZ SLIM]

Do you have one?
Effective?
Make/model?
We have a Midland...10-ish years old....set for Sumter County notifications....not a peep or beep last night!
Settings are correct?!
Shopping.


I bought one and set it up for Sumter Co. when I moved here, primarily for tornados. I found that the warnings cover such a large area that it was not that helpful. Lots of noisy, annoying alerts but not very accurate. I use the emergency alerts via my phone app. Less drama. We know that specific tornados are hard to predict. I find it better to just keep an eye out if there is a strong storm around with potential for tornados.

[Maker]

I bought one and set it up for Sumter Co. when I moved here, primarily for tornados. I found that the warnings cover such a large area that it was not that helpful. Lots of noisy, annoying alerts but not very accurate. I use the emergency alerts via my phone app. Less drama. We know that specific tornados are hard to predict. I find it better to just keep an eye out if there is a strong storm around with potential for tornados.

The FIPS code is unique per county. Since counties are relatively large, you may hear an alert that applies for the other end of the county you live in.
If you live in Sumter county, your FIPS code should eliminate alerts for other counties, unless those alerts are also covering Sumter.
For example, if a tornado warning covers several counties and you will hear them all mentioned, including your county.
For example, an alert for coastal flooding would not apply here, and you should not hear that one.
For example, an alert type sent for a topic that has been disabled on your radio, should not trigger your radio to alert. It should stay silent.

If "noisy" refers to the NOAA transmitter, It's strong enough in this area to be heard clearly, without any static. If "noisy" refers to alerts, then perhaps your radio is programmed wrong.

A cell phone is a great backup, but cell service is often down during disasters. My phone is set for only the worse case alerts, like tornado on the ground. Things I want to know about right now because I need to take action right now. I do not rely on it for much else because it is not a primary data source.

[Girlcopper]

Do you have one?
Effective?
Make/model?
We have a Midland...10-ish years old....set for Sumter County notifications....not a peep or beep last night!
Settings are correct?!
Shopping.
Why bother with that. Get the emergency alerts on your cell

[TVTVTV]

No need. Set your smartphone to receive alerts.

...and remember to put it within hearing distance at night for any alerts.

[TVTVTV]

A weather radio should not be your only one source you should have another backup or even a third. You should take full advantage of your smart phone assuming you and most have one anyhow.

Agree. My cell phone is set up for certain warnings, and kept in the bedroom also. Make sure you allow alerts from the specific weather app to bypass any 'Do Not Disturbed' settings on your phone.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

No need. Set your smartphone to receive alerts.

works until the electric or transmission tower doesn't work.
that's why the weather radio for tornado warnings are so important, especially at night.

people forget after long periods of working, everything works until it doesn't. .
The World Trade Center stood until it didn't. . . same with everything else