Weather Radio (North Platte: great, information)

[Artiste]

Thanks for the purchasing info..
I just was not sure if it required a special service. Glad to see it is a product that is not hard to find.

I will look for one of those before we move. I am not paranoid or anything, but I have to admit I am a little nervous coming from NY to NE after all of the recent tornadoes in the MidWest. It seems like it has been an extraordinary year for such weather..? Coupled with that I also have two little kids so I guess I have a little fear about the storms, and I would like to keep my little ones as safe as possible in the event of a tornado or flood.

I remember, when I lived in CO, loving to watch the big storms develop and roll (sometimes more than roll... lol) across the prairie. They are amazing.
As scary as they can be at times, I do look forward to watching the storms again.

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by Artiste

Off Pavement, and/or other members, where did you purchase this radio?

Do you need a type of service activated to use it (like satellite radio, cable, etc...)?

I am interested in purchasing one of these, but I am new to the product and how it works.
Thanks!

Most weather radio's frequencies are free. All it costs you is buying the radio. I have two.

I used to have just one. I was down in Texas doing a project, living in my 5th wheel in a RV campground. One night the weather radio alarm went off. I hit the button and listened to them tell of a cyclic cloud about 4 miles from me. So I turned on the TV. Not a minute later the TV showed a tornado on the ground. Tracking straight for me. The radio was still on giving minute by minute updates on the tornado. The TV showed a map and a red line where the tornado was tracking. It was headed straight for my area. At about a mile out, the power went out. I was in the dark as to what the tornado was doing. It hit us. I had no damage but it did pick me and my 5th wheel up and turn us sideways in the lot.

I then purchased the second weather radio. It's battery operated.

[SCGranny]

We live out in the boonies - town of 125 people - the closest "local" Direct TV station is Sioux City. We don't have local cable which means no local weather reports. Our NOAA radio picks up beautifully and keeps us informed about where the bad weather is and where it is heading. You can buy the battery or crank-operated ones if you are concerned about power losses during severe times. We are fortunate, as the tornadoes and severe weather seem to split around us so far. Another storm today came thru, looked really bad, but went south of us and gave us about 15 minutes of thunder, lighning, and sprinkles. It also dropped our temps by about 15 degrees! It is pretty awesome to watch the storms go across the sky. Where we are, we've already figured out that if anything comes in hard and fast from the West, it usually blows around us - it is the slow movers from the South and North that are the problem. Different topography causes different air currents, and it is interesting to watch which ones influence where.

Of Course, I'm the idiot standing out in it taking pictures!! My friends back east were freaking out last week, trying to contact me about what they were seeing on the Weather Channel - silly them - they know that I'm always out in it!! LOL

[Dave1215]

Originally Posted by SCGranny

Of Course, I'm the idiot standing out in it taking pictures!! My friends back east were freaking out last week, trying to contact me about what they were seeing on the Weather Channel - silly them - they know that I'm always out in it!! LOL

Now you are talking like a lifelong Nebraskan I've gotten great pictures this year. Last night just sat on the porch watching the weather move in.

[DanBev]

Originally Posted by tpabes

I got mine at wal-mart, so about any place that sells radios probably has them. Hardware stores might have them as well. You do not need to activate service. Mine does not have any alarm, its a regular radio that has a button for the weather frequency, and it cost $15.

Buy the Midland $29-$30 You program counties you want monitered,do not need false alarms.We border 2 counties which are programmed,got severe thunderstorm warning well in advance last night,thankful

[itsMeFred]

BTW Granny, if you get mail every day, you're not quite in the "boonies," but you can see 'em from your back porch...
As you live there a little longer, you'll see what I mean...

Our NOAA radio picks up beautifully

That's because you're only 40 miles from a 1000w station.
We're 60 miles from a 300w station, or 150 from a 1000w station. We get nothing. :P

And that's really frustrating when storms are rolling in. Our radar goes because I unhook the modem (since lightning storms have the bad habit of blowing it up!), and our satellite goes because the storm interferes with signal.
We can still get the local radio station, 90 miles to the east, but they aren't always on top of what's happening out our way until it happens!

DH's a trained weather spotter for sheer self defense. lol

~Erin

[SCGranny]

LOL Well, I uh er... get mail at the PO box in town, does that count? Grin Admittedly I can walk to th PO in nice weather.

I'm sorry, I didn't know that there were places that didn't have NOAA weather radio communications abilities!!! I thought they were everywhere; we've even gotten them on our walkies when driving. (We carry the walkies on the property and in the cars when we are each driving - saves time trying to find each other.)

[checotah44]

I have lived in Nebraska my entire life. I just purchased my first weather radio after those storms that occurred at 2:15 am and no alert i figured might be good to have something to wake me up. I've been woke up many times recently in the middle of the night w flash flood warnings etc. Its okay as i hit the snooze and go back to bed. FIgure its better than being blown away. I left my configured to the settings it was set with so it does pick up counties all around me and thats fine with me. I fear if I set it to just my county, I'd miss storms that were on their way toward me so i have left it alone. i have no idea why more people dont have them. I heard after the storm in the middle of the am Sunday, that some stores were out of them, so maybe more people are getting on board.

[IsThisOneTaken?]

Look for a weather radio with "SAME" technology and an alert function. SAME allows you to program specific counties so you don't have to hear an alert for a wider geographic area.

Also, check to see if your county's Emergency Management office has an alert system. My county lets you sign up to receive text messages or emails anytime there is a watch or warning in the county. They also do school closings and "reverse 911" emergency notification.

There is no charge except the incoming text mesage fee from Alltel if I go over my plan.

Here is a good overview of weather radios and their technology:

RadioShack's Guide to Weather Radios

[Off Pavement]

Originally Posted by checotah44

I left my configured to the settings it was set with so it does pick up counties all around me and thats fine with me. I fear if I set it to just my county, I'd miss storms that were on their way toward me so i have left it alone.

That was my concern when I orginally posted. Our radio has the SAME technology mentioned above, and I've deprogrammed the surrounding counties as I think warnings come in plenty of time. I live near 3 counties (Frontier, Gosper, and Red Willow) as we're in the NW corner of Furnas county.

I've also deprogrammed alerts for all watches and also flood warnings since I'm atop a hill and don't need to wake up for that. I've got tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings set to go off so I feel comfortable that I can get to the basement in time in case bad weather rumbles through in the middle of the night as recently happened in central Nebraska.