Do you own a WEATHER RADIO?

[JaycoBot]

From the Open Road RV.Net Blog --

Do you own a weather radio?It’s that time of year again, when our news is dominated by reports of severe weather nationwide.In recent years, we’ve seen heavy springtime tornado and flood activity. Sometimes the impact upon RV campers is heartbreaking.As much as we love RV camping, we all know that RVs do not offer safe [...]


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[mcfarmall]

I own 2. One stays on the bedside table at home and the other one lives in the camper permanently. It's the first thing I fire up after setting up camp.

[thomasmnile]

Yes. One at home, one in the TT. Cheap safety measure. :lightning:

[Explorer03]

mcfarmall, & thomasmnile,
What type/brand of weather radios do you have? Thanks

[norty1]

I have a Midland S.A.M.E. Digital All weather radio. It is always on at home. I used to carry it on the road but lately have left it at home. They are about $30. and can be programmed to pick up individual county alerts.

[thomasmnile]

Originally Posted by Explorer03

mcfarmall, & thomasmnile,
What type/brand of weather radios do you have? Thanks

I have a Midland SAME "addressable" radio at home, and a Radio Shack "low tech" model in the trailer. The difference between the two is the radio using the "SAME" (National Weather Service acronym whose meaning escapes me) technology, allows you to enter a code from a list available on your local NWS office's website. Programming this code will enable the radio to activate only for weather warnings issued in your immediate area (been so long since I did it I think that's how it works). My old Radio Shack model will activate for any weather warning issued by the local NWS office for any portion of their area of responsibility, which often spans multiple counties. That's handy in Florida, especially in summer during summer thunderstorm season, when it can be rockin' and rollin' 5-10 miles away from me, but it's bright, sunny, and rain free where I am, at home or out camping.

Whatever you buy, make sure you maintain the batteries (they typically can run on house current of 9v batteries) and when using it in the RV, place it near a window so the antenna can pick up the signal, as the NOAA Weather Radio transmitters are often thinly spaced.

[mcfarmall]

I have a Midland WR-300 in the house and a Midland WR-120 in the TT. Both offer SAME (Specific Area Message Encryption) county capability. You can get a list of codes from the NOAA.gov website. Also you can get coverage maps and frequencies for local NWS transmitters. This is especially handy as in some areas (Ludington, MI) your weather radio will pick up multiple frequencies with comparable strength but from different cities serving other counties. I tuned my radio to a nice strong NWS frequency and later discovered it was from Manitowoc Wisconsin...all the way across Lake Michigan 60 miles west of my location. Find your destination city and use the transmitter coverage map to determine which local transmitter best serves the city and county you are staying in.

I am trying to get the State of Michigan to begin posting the local NWS frequency, call letters, transmitter city and SAME county codes on the bulletin boards throughout the park where they post emergency information like police, fire and ambulance numbers. A sticker might show up this year on the board with that information...you never know

[dlfeather]

Last time out camping I found out that the stereo in the camper has a weather band on it. I am glad I found that out, it might be kinda handy. Other than that I do not have any thing else.