Weatheradio Tips

Bill Murray | February 19, 2012 @ 2:28 pm

Many folks across Central Alabama have purchased NOAA Weatheradios over the past few weeks since the January 23rd tornadoes. Many of you have picked them up at our ABC 33/40 programming events.

John DeBlock of the National Weather Service wanted to pass on a few tips in case you didn’t have your units programmed at one of these events:

First and foremost, for a fairly high percentage of folks that are calling saying their radios are not working, we find that the radios are in the off position. It’s a minor problem easily corrected, but it makes us wonder how many people have NOT called us and are sitting at home expecting their radio to work (maybe even this weekend) and the radio is in the off position. Unless someone is buying a batch for gifts and it’s going to be awhile until they are put in use, we recommend sending them home with the radios in the ON position.

With the new WR-120 radios, there is an option as to whether or not the listener would like to hear the alarm during the weekly test. Midland added the option due to consumer requests, as the WR-100s did NOT sound the alarm during the test, and didn’t even have the option. It is a personal choice, but it is our advice that listeners do opt in to hear that test. When I ask people if the would like the audible alert, I say something like “you’d like to hear the weekly test so that you know your radio is working properly, right?” Once the basic channel/location/time programming is done, go back into the Menu and hit the up arrow once, hit select on Weekly Test, and arrow up or down to yes to turn this option on.

Another option after the initial setup is to select the “Alert Type”. There are three options here, Display, Tone, and Voice. Display produces no audible alarm and only displays the information. When the TONE alert type is chosen, the alert tone (the obnoxious loud warble) will sound for 3 minutes, or until you press any button. When the VOICE alert type is chosen, the alert tone will sound for 8 seconds, then you will hear the voice of the weather broadcast for 3 minutes. We recommend folks select the VOICE option selected.

Finally, one of the more complex aspects of programming the weather radios is the selection of transmitters and counties. Unfortunately, due to the configuration of towers, in many instances people live between the towers and have to make a choice on which transmitter to listen to, making a trade off on the counties for them and those for family or loved ones they are watching out for. There’s also a balance between limiting the number of counties to minimize alarms, and giving folks an extra county or two to give them extra time to get to safety when they live on or near a county line.

A good idea is to use the NWS coverage maps.

Thanks John!

Category: Alabama's Weather, Severe Weather

About the Author (Author Profile)

Bill Murray is the President of The Weather Factory. He is the site's official weather historian and a weekend forecaster. He also anchors the site's severe weather coverage. Bill Murray is the proud holder of National Weather Association Digital Seal #0001 @wxhistorian