Weather Radios

[Maximus Ram]

OK, I searched for them and the only threads that came up were for ham or cb's with weather built in.
What I am looking for is an affordable($50 or less) household based radio.
After loosing tv reception yesterday and not being able to getany weather reports from the regular radio, I started thinking that we should have an emergency weather radio around here.
So what does the community on the Expedition Portal use for home use ?

Thanks,
Matt

 

[jwhutch]

Radio Shack. Mine is are and warning/watch programable. That way it's not going off for every flash flood watch we have, and in Memphis that is an almost daily occurance lately. My 2 meter radio will also receive 162.XXX, so I can listen to the NOAA broadcast with that.

 

[gary in ohio]

You can find weather radio at just about any electronic store. They come in all sizes and price. On the low end is just a basic radio 10channel with tone alert. It can be set to come on when there is an alert issued for the radio coverage areas.

The recent technology is called SAME and will allow you to define down to the county level what type of alerts you want to hear.

There is also the LATEST in weather radio's the polygon/SAME system where you can enter lat/long values and create a box of any size and only alterts affecting that area will cause the radio to go off.


$20 and up is the price range.

 

[Momrocks]

I have had a MIDLAND WR300 for about two years now. I like it. It just sits dormant (unless you are listening to AM/FM) until an emergency broadcast, then it blurts out an alarm followed by that NOAA monotone voice giving details. This one has S.A.M.E. so you can tune for your specific area. Since I live in a hurricane area, this is just a natural piece of my weather preps.

I think I paid about $50 for mine. Some models come with accessories like external speakers, warning lights for hearing impared and external antennas. My broadcast comes out Mobile AL (70 miles) and tunes from the included rabbit ears crisply and cleanly.

If you live in a location with chances of severe weather, this is a cheap and effective bit of preparation in my opinion. Will play standard AM/FM for 2 days on standard battery power.

 

[Corey]

I use one of my portable two ways.
It has several weather channels on it, and I just leave it on one.
Unit has rechargeable batts in it, and it hardly pulls any juice on standby.

 

[gprsdlyt]

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3506942

i picked this up bout a year ago. not bad, works well! the red color must be new, mine is gray where red.

 

[HanzoSteel]

Grundig has good radios.

Also Baygen and Eton.

 

[Maximus Ram]

Ya, I've looked online at radioshack,best buy, walmart, target, crutchfield....
there are some nice radios out there, I was looking for personal experiences with some of the radios out there.

 

[Momrocks]

Ya, I've looked online at radioshack,best buy, walmart, target, crutchfield....
there are some nice radios out there, I was looking for personal experiences with some of the radios out there.

I know where you're coming from, it's frustrating to ask for experiences and get back Google results.

I do own a Midland WR300 and couldn't be much happier with it. It tunes really well to the weather broadcast though I don't use that function often. I like it for the emergency functionality and S.A.M.E. If a tornado, flash flooding, etc. is spotted in the area, it alarms and goes to the broadcast. It tunes into NWS, Am/Fm but can be passive until EBS is activated. I have been awakened when a tornado was spotted in my county...very effective.

Cost was cheap but the safety peace of mind it delivers is very satisfying. This radio does exactly what I require of it and can maintain it's post in extended periods without electricity. I would replace mine with the same model if I needed to. I hope this helps.