While it's nice to have multiple sources, I don't think that I'd be comfortable if the internet was my only source of warnings since service could easily be interrupted due to power outages, downed/broken lines, etc. Even if the event hasn't reached the local area, outages in nearby areas might hamper availability. With that said, I do like having the internet available during emergencies/severe weather.

Just to clarify ...

Martin wasn't proposing using the weather radio to generate alerts. He was only proposing using a PC, a USB connection, and an internet-based application to SETUP the radio (enter SAME codes, select options,...).

Once it was setup then it would operate independently of the internet as would any weather radio.

These work great for me in DC and in Shenandoah National Park at 3700 feet. I keep one in my car, one with camp gear and one in my purse (on summer days like this when severe weather is in the forecast).

In conjunction with the DC e-mail and text alerts I receive, t-storms and tornado watches don't sneak up on me.

As Ken says: they are simple and petite.

I understood the same; but I like the idea of a WR providing the communication and the PC providing the presentation. You would get data completely independently of internet systems that can be damaged by disasters, but the nearly-infinite customizing abilities presented by the PC.
Since NOAA is already sending signals over the air to tell SAME devices what is going on and where (to avoid extraneous alerts) it would in theory be easy to pass this data from the radio to a PC, which would be much easier to program as desired with a simple GUI.

OK. here's where I am with this.

I saw that www.emergencyalertradio.com has something close to what I want, but it appears that the device software is stuck in 2002 on a windows-only platform. EarWatch is a software product - close - but not quite right.

I think that we're getting to a device that is:

- a standalone WX radio with SAME alerting
- has a USB interface that shows up as a Mass Storage Device to pretty much any computer.
- Works in conjunction with a web site that allows you to build a configuration file for the device that allows you to set SAME alert codes and to manage the types of alerts (or suppression of alerts)
- has two audio outputs - one for an external speaker, one is a line-level audio, unsquelched, for audio decode on a PC as needed.

Anyway, the www.emergencyalertradio.com thing is very, very close to what we want.

Interesting. If it had a USB interface that provided access to a non-proprietary config file, I'd be tempted to pick one up and try to come up with something that could generate config files with Mac computers. It probably wouldn't be all that difficult to do with AppleScript.

I'm checking mine out tonight, will see what it has. It's a pretty bare-bones Midland that I got from attending CERT class, I don't remember a USB interface, but I also don't remember looking that closely either. We'll see.

If it does, I'll play around with it and let you know.

What's wrong with using a radio that receives the NOAA weather channels?

I use them with my Ham radio(s) frequently.

And the website is a refugee from 1996.
Still, it does seem that someone has put some effort into this idea before. Would be nice if the tech were more up-to-date though.

Here's what's wrong.

The NOAA weather channels provide TOO MUCH information that is IRRELEVANT. In many areas they are too quick to issue a "Watch" for BS conditions like a "high heat advisory" or a "Snow Event Potential". Even with S.A.M.E. these alerts tripped my S.A.M.E. equipped weather radio at all hours of the day and night and eventually became "the radio that cried wolf".

Now, there are newer radios that let me fine-tune the kinds of alerts I actually WANT to get down to a level of detail that is almost adequate, but the user interfaces and controls for these radios are so poor that it requires a not insubstantial level of time and effort to be able to program the radio to provide useful warnings by suppressing the garbage alerts fully.

What's more, the radios themselves lack even the most rudimentary control over how and when alerting should be done. At 3:30 AM, I don't need a screaming siren, a strobe light will suffice to wake me. Or maybe I DO want a screaming siren at 3:30 AM but a strobe light while I'm at my desk in my office.
The point is that a radio that accepts a standard text file - like an XML file - for the complex - but typically one-time - programing is miles better than a plain ht tuned to 162.xxxx


So what I'd like to see is a radio that lets me use a web site and ANY computer to build my config file, plug in the radio, copy the config file and have it work the way I want it.