Weather Alert Radio

[East Texas]

How many of you have weather / all hazard alert radios? I don't mean scanners or regular radios. These are the radios, such as Reecom and Midland, that sound an alarm followed by a message when NOAA sends out an alert. The radios eliminate the need to be glued to the TV or computer 24X7 during weather events. They have battery backups in case of an electrical outage.

I tell friends and family the $40 to $50 it costs to buy a weather alert radio is money well spent. It could very well save their life one day.

Do you have one?

 

[bbbamI]

Our neighborhood has a siren we can hear. However, it sure would be nice to have one of those. I need to put it on my list.

I've lived in TX for 17 years...so far I've been lucky.

 

[braumeister]

There is a siren less than 1/2 mile away, so we can hear it easily. Unfortunately, there is no rhyme or reason to what they activate it for, so no telling what it means when it goes off.

We also have a weather radio, which can be programmed for specific counties. Unfortunately, we live near the boundary of three counties, so we get a lot of extraneous alerts. We're close to the Ohio River and many of its tributaries, so a flash flood alert for an area 20 miles away is pretty meaningless to us.

The result is that we keep the alert feature turned off most of the time and just turn the radio on when the sky looks threatening or the siren goes off.

 

[freebird5825]

I have a miniature Radio Shack Realistic crystal controlled Weatheradio, model 12-241. It is 9V battery powered and is about the size of my outstretched hand. It has a telescoping, folding antenna.
I can carry it anywhere, land, air or sea. I keep a spare battery taped to it when it goes traveling with me.
Model 12-241 is no longer manufactured. Here are some inexpensive modern versions.

http://www.radioshack.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2032069&sr=1&origkw=weather%20radio

 

[Free To Canoe]

I think the Radio Shack 12-241 was replaced by this:
RadioShack® Weather Cube Radio - RadioShack.com

 

[FIREd]

I like to watch TV during weather events because "a -radar- picture is worth a thousand words". We also have sirens in our neighborhood. However, during the tornado outbreak last week, a tornado blew up major power lines so the TV went dark and the sirens stopped working. A regular battery-operating radio came in handy at that moment. I also have weather alerts set on my iPhone (the weather channel app will alert you when a warning has been issued for your zip code).

But I think a weather Alert Radio could be useful at night. If you are sleeping and the sirens are not functioning, the WX radio will get you out of bed.

 

[LOL!]

It seems that this is another bit of technology that has been replaced by smart phones. I can see NOAA radar on my smart phone.

And if you don't know the weather is bad or going to be bad, then you are not living in the world I live in. My high school was destroyed by a tornado. The same tornado destroyed all the homes across the street from my house.

 

[Nords]

How many of you have weather / all hazard alert radios?

We have a tsunami siren that tells us when it's time to go stand in line at Wal-Mart.

Or at least that seems to be the Pavlovian result.

 

[freebird5825]

There is a decent discussion of basic and complex weather radios here

Radio Shack™, Archer™ and Realistic™ Information Index

Scroll down to the text "Weather Radios (or as Radio Shack calls them, WeatheRadios)"

Here is a very good explanation of the NOAA Weather alert system and why you should own a weather radio that tunes to the NOAA broadcast frequencies.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Protect-Your-Loved-Ones-With-An-Inexpensive-NOAA-Weather-Radio&id=3367693

I learned something new today.
from the link "NOAA Weather Radio also broadcasts alerts of non-weather emergencies such as national security, natural, environmental, and public safety (i.e. AMBER Alerts) through the Emergency Alert System making it an "All Hazards" warning system."

My very simple 3 channel, model 12-241 is perfect if power goes out. I keep it right next to one of my 4 emergency flashlights, strategically situated throughout the house.

I believe my cell phone can connect to the Internet, assuming Verizon cell services are still operational way out here in East Nowhere. Next time we have bad weather forecast, I'll give that a try to see if I can get to the NOAA radar site.

 

[Rustward]

I have a miniature Radio Shack Realistic crystal controlled Weatheradio, model 12-241. It is 9V battery powered and is about the size of my outstretched hand. It has a telescoping, folding antenna.
I can carry it anywhere, land, air or sea. I keep a spare battery taped to it when it goes traveling with me.
Model 12-241 is no longer manufactured. Here are some inexpensive modern versions.

Weather Radios & Emergency Radios : Radios | RadioShack.com

We gave FIL a 12-249 years ago, and now have it back as one of the things to remember him by. Have not used it, though. Maybe tomorrow would be a good time for me to tinker with it.

Edit: After the tornado in '93 the town put in sirens. Most of the damage on our street was to garage doors and portable outbuildings. I believe there were a couple of fatalities in the next town, though. Only tornado I can say I ever saw . . . and I didn't like how it felt.

'nother edit. It was in '93, not '92, May 9, Mother's day.

 

[steelyman]

Here is a very good explanation of the NOAA Weather alert system and why you should own a weather radio that tunes to the NOAA broadcast frequencies.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Protect-Your-Loved-Ones-With-An-Inexpensive-NOAA-Weather-Radio&id=3367693

Thank you for posting this link, it was informative for me (I was utterly naive about the devices). I hadn't voted in the poll, because I didn't think any of the responses fit me, but now I'm thinking "no, but getting one soon".

 

[Nodak]

I have one of the radios but I think it's time for a newer one that can alert on specific county warnings. The one I have now alarms for too big an area.

 

[freebird5825]

Thank you for posting this link, it was informative for me (I was utterly naive about the devices). I hadn't voted in the poll, because I didn't think any of the responses fit me, but now I'm thinking "no, but getting one soon".

You are quite welcome.

I use mine for everything from figuring out what to wear (temperature and precipitation forecast), to figuring out if/when I can go out on my boat or take the Mustang out for a spin, to actually knowing about bad weather if I am more than 30 minutes from home and driving, to having a powerout backup for severe weather, and as now I know, other local and national emergencies.
It is faster to click my little weather radio on vs.firing up the NOAA site online or waiting for TV based weather reports.

 

[East Texas]

Most of our NOAA alerts are for weather. Some are Amber Alerts. My brother lives in the Texas panhandle and he's been getting wildfire alerts on his alert radio. I've only had one hazmat alert in all the years I've owned a weather / all hazards radio.

Having a weather alert radio lets us go to bed at night during a weather event knowing an alert will wake us. We have our radios set to 'all counties' in this NOAA district (Shreveport). I want to know what's coming this way with as much notice as possible. We have a portable alert radio about the size of a Blackberry that we take with us if we're going to town and the weather is a little unsettled.

 

[alvarezg]

I just got one after having slept through a nighttime tornado warning. I used to live nearer the town siren, but now it's too far to hear.