xtreme_right said:
Sorry, not really sure what to call it. I'm wanting to get something to alert me to bad weather (we're coming up on the spring storms here in tornado alley), but am thinking it would also be nice to have something that is able to alert me to more than just weather. I'm planning to go on the net and research, but am not really sure what to research yet. I know there's plain ol' weather radios, but am wondering the benefits to getting a scanner or even ham radio. Can someone point me in which direction I need to look?
xr
First, you need to get a S.A.M.E. weather radio. There are plenty of different kinds out there. The better SAME radios allow you to enter codes for just your counties and surrounding areas so that you don't get woke up at 1AM over a storm warning 100 miles away.
Second, some radios use the digital signal SAME sends out. These radios will always go off, so just because the box says "SAME" technology doesn't mean it's county specific.
I would suggest one of the newer kinds. The most important things are:
#1: Make sure you can block out different kinds of alerts. The 1st generation of SAME radios you could not block out warnings. It really sucks to hear the standard flood warning that is of no danger to you every few hours. You need to make sure you can block out both warnings and watches.
#2: Make sure the radio has a batter back-up incase the power goes out. The POS I have is nice, but if the power goes out, it's dead. While it has a 9 volt battery in it, you have to physically flip a switch to run it from the battery. This is most stupid set-up I have ever seen.
Due to #2 above, I am likely going to be getting the First Alert or the Reecom. The Reecom is by far the best radio I had. I sold it for this POS that actually has a map of the county display. This is called a ShareCom. It is fine except that there is no battery back up...at least on my radio. You have to flip that swich. Kinda sucks if the power flickers on/off and you lose all memory.
Forgot about scanners. There are scanners out there with the SAME technology, but just not country specific availability. I would look for one of those. Once you get the scanner, you need to dedicate one bank to weather/ham usage. Find your storm spotter freq. and plug in all those (even surrounding counties). What I also do is add local police and fire in this bank but just lock them out. When something is going down, I unlock police and fire if they are involved.