whats a top of the line weather radio?

Thanks for your time and knowledge

Please define "top of the line." I have several radios that will pick up NOAA weather, from a hand cranker to a high dollar scanner to a hand held FRS radio(s). All seem to work equally well...

PaleHorse, Your might want to check this LINK

I have three weather radios:

Midland 74-250 - This is the yellow portible one. I don't really like it as much as the other since I really stumble through use of the controls each time I use it. Its just not as intuitive as the Oregon Scientifics. One of the big flaws is that it only runs on batteries. Plugging in the AC adaptor is only for charging the cadmium batteries.

Oregon Scientific WR103, which has been replaced with the very similar looking WR601 - This is the silver portible one. I really like this radio. The controls are fairly intuitive and easy to use. This one will run off of AC via the charger.

I'll recommend the WR601 to you. It works well both portible (I take it camping with me) and on a desk.

I also have several of an Oregon Scientific desktop model that can pretty easily be used portable. I think it is no longer available - probably replaced by the multipurpose WR601.

I tended to buy my weather radios from http://www.ambientweather.com/radiosnoaa.html if that helps.

I have the same two portable radios that Ken mentions. If you want a radio to leave plugged in at home but can take along occasionally, then the Oregon Scientific is the logical choice. But I like the Midland because it only uses 2xAA versus the more typical 3xAA and the text it displays during an alert is more informative. I remember being rather shocked two or three years back when something like "Tsunami watch..." scrolled across the Midland's screen while it started beeping. An earthquake up near the Oregon border triggered a tsunami watch all down the West coast. Luckily, no tsunami developed.

Oh, whatever you get, I highly suggest that it uses SAME technology so you can limit the alerts to just your area. Well, anything "top of the line" should have it, but I'll just mention it.

I use a scanner.

I’m not looking for weather alert radio that goes off every time there is 3-rain drops coming down in the area.

This hasn't been my experience with the weather radios. They only go off when there is an alert or warning issued for my SAME area.

Actually I'm just the opposite. I don't want the chatter of a scanner when I don't need it. The weather radio sits quietly until a real alert is issued.

You know, I have a few weather radios, with SAME alerting and I've gotten so sick of the "Severe Weather Warnings" that they issue all the time with their slightly hysterical version of the Steven Hawking voice synthesizer

WARNING: IT GETS HOT IN THE SUMMER!
WARNING: RAIN IS WET!
WARNING! WEAR A HAT WHEN YOU GO OUT. YOU'LL CATCH A DEATH OF A
COLD. DON'T BLAME US IF YOU END UP SICK IN BED.

The warnings come so frequently and for trivial reasons - we just turned the darn thing off.

I'm not even talking about the Weather Watches which are issued about 90 times a day.

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF A CHANCE OF BRIEF SHOWERS TONIGHT MAYBE. SKYWARN ACTIVATION IS REQUESTED.


When we think of the folks at the local NOAA Weather Radio station my wife and I envision a really nervous bunch of folks deep in a bunker cowering at the thought of a sky over their heads.

It's a shame - they have squandered a good system by polluting it with info-crap.

We still have the radio, but I can't think of the last time we turned it on for any reason.

There's a lesson in here, somewhere.

I live in Nebraska and we get our fair share of severe weather around here and I don't think it going off to much is a problem. I think you were joking but mine does not go off for watches. A light comes, but it doesnt activate. If you set it with SAME you should only get relevant warnings. That being said if you pay attention to the weather you dont really need one on all the time.

Really? My radio never alerts except for things like that tsunami watch I mentioned, or really severe weather, like the time there was a tornado warning near Anaheim a few years back. Other than that, it's just the weekly test broadcast.

When I watch the Weather Channel or the local weather, I can see that the NWS has issued X or Y warning all the time, but my weather radio has never activated on any of those.

I guess part of it is what do you consider severe. Our's issues warnings for a decent thunderstorm. It's gotten to the point I consider their warnings "crying wolf".

I've had one of those SAME radios. Either they don't put the SAME signal in our system or the published code is wrong or all of mine are broken. I've seen a warning for the county I'm in on TV & the radio never went off.

I have this Radio Shack 7-Channel Handheld Weatheradio® with SAME Operation, and you can program out all those persistent "20% chance of sprinkles" messages by setting what alerts you want to be notified about: tornado, earthquake, volcano, etc. I think you can also program multiple counties for the SAME (Specific Area) alerts.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index....rentPage=search
http://RSK.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pRS1C-2077813_rshalt1_dt.jpg

I found that it burned through the 3 AA batteries rather quickly (in hours rather than the claimed 4 days), so I use NiMH rechargeable AAs, and I stopped using it except when in the 1-day path of a hurricane while on vacation (because I'm always in the direct path of a hurricane when I go on vacation), the only time I've ever actually had to bug out. If I was in Oklahoma or California, I'd buy an A/C adapter and a box of batteries.

Note the user comments on the web-site. The volume is way too loud on its quietest setting--a good feature if you need to wake up and leave, otherwise highly annoying.

I also find rechargeables work rather poorly in my weather radios. Like you, just a matter of days, plus the radio dies all of a sudden. But with alkalines, mine will go maybe 10-14 days, and for the last couple days, the low battery light flashes.

This particular application is one situation where alkalines have an advantage over NiMH in my opinion--the gradual decline in voltage is long so you have a chance to catch the low voltage condition before the battery completely dies. With the NiMH batteries, I'll go to sleep with the light blinking green and wake up the next morning with the radio dead. Never had a chance to see it go into that low battery mode.

I have read that the newer low self discharge (LSD) NiMH, like the Sanyo Eneloops should do better, but I haven't gotten around to buying any yet.

What chatter? When I want to know what the weather is going to be I turn on a scanner and go manually (I have it locked out so it doesn’t stop on the channel when scanning) to the channel with the weather broadcast and listen to it and then shut it off.

I agree with Marty - at least around here (NWS Upton) you'll get " URBAN FLOOD ADVISORY" (aka there is 2" of water on the road) "Dense fog warning" (gee, it's under 1/2 mile)

.WIND ADVISORY

Then a couple of hours later (again - tripping a warning)
.WIND ADVISORY IS CANCELLED

For instance - that Urban Flood Advisory? They issued it the other day at 7:02ap to last to 10am
at 8:00 they issued it again - to last till 10:00am
and again at 9:00
and then at 9:20ish, they issued it AGAIN, but canceling it

I don't need to be warned every hour or two for the same warning - really - I understood the first time you told me

The BIG problem is the Pager service I use (they send it to my cell phone) doesn't allow you to tailor what you get - you get them all - or nothing

Really? A wind advisory will make your weather radio alert when it's on stand by? That seems totally against the general idea of the Emergency Alert System that only news that is serious enough to justify waking people up in the middle of the night is what will activate a weather radio.

Yeah, if that happened here, I'd probably just keep my radio off and only turn it on when the weather is bad.

I've had good luck with the Midland WR-300. It has SAME ability so you only get the alerts for areas you want. You have excellent control over the types of alerts you want to hear (i.e. just tornado warnings, etc.). There are several notification methods (siren, voice, light). Reception is consistently clear in central Virginia. I have two in the house, one on each floor.

t's not a bad little clock/radio either since it also has AM/FM radio and battery backup.

Here the local weather service activates SkyWarn (amateur radio weather watchers and storm chasers) at the drop of a hat. To the point of being stupid to do for the frivolous weather, I think the same mentality transfers to the alert system here.