Portable Weather Radio?

[melissab]

Hello! I'm thinking of purchasing a portable weather radio for my trip out West. I'll be traveling through Tornado Alley and would like to keep an eye on the weather. I Googled "Portable Weather Radio" as well as looking on Camping World and LLBean Websites. Oh, also looked at Amazon. Who knew there were so many types with so many capabilities???
I'm looking for something simple that wont go off when the wind blows 3 counties away (not that I'd know what county I was in anyway) and that I dont have to reprogram every time I come to a new State. Is there something that automatically tracks only the local weather? Hoping to not spend a fortune. We dont even use our weather radio here at home we bought when we moved to FL 20 yrs ago b/c the darn thing never shuts up. I dont care what the seas are etc. So it sits in a drawer. The moment I plug it in it starts going off for stuff 100 miles away. Never could figure out if we could program it not to. So my experience with these things is frustrating and pretty much nill. I want something simple yet accurate and reliable that can also run off batteries in case I'm overnighting w/o power.

Thanks!
Melissa

[Byron Kinnaman]

The alarms are triggered by NOAA not the radio, the radio only responds when told to. There are 10 different channels that are used through out the country and only 10. When traveling one that scans to find the strongest signal might be a good thing while driving. When stopped it's no big deal to surf through the 10 channels.
If it was me I'd do some internet searching for reviews that compare different radios. Since my Ham radio has weather radio capabilities I don't need another one, even though my daughter thought I do. She gave me one for Christmas last year. I think I used it once to check a local forecast.

I would think that if kept your TV radio tuned to a local station warnings would be issued there.

[Terry G]

I've been using this one. It's simple and automatically scans for the strongest channel You can have it wait for alerts or listen to the latest forecast. And you can't beat the price of about $18.

Amazon.com: MIDLAND HH50 Pocket Weather Radio: Electronics

[Peter_Crowl]

I agree with Byron - there are numerous options that don't involve a stand alone radio.
I can get weather information on my

Car Radio
Laptop
Cell Phone
TV

Having a small battery powered AM radio is not a bad idea though in the event you loose power elsewhere. You can get them with Weather - and it will just give you what NOAA sends out...but if you got into a bad situation it'd be comforting.

Truth is - yeah there's bad weather but you'll see it coming. Watch the truckers - when they get off the road you should too :~)

[Ed Harris]

I have a weather radio app on my iphone and it uses the SAME alerts based on the location of the phone at the time,fully automatic.
I am in Joplin now and have been getting alerts for here and my home location both.

You just need an iPhone!

[Carol H]

REI sells a number of weather radio options:
weather radios at REI.com

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Ed Harris

I have a weather radio app on my iphone and it uses the SAME alerts based on the location of the phone at the time,fully automatic.
I am in Joplin now and have been getting alerts for here and my home location both.

You just need an iPhone!

Which app are you using?

[melissab]

LOL, I HATE cell phones as many of you read in another post. I dont have a modern cell so to speak. I carry a 5+ yr old Tracfone for emergencies only. I keep minutes on it just for that. I've been in some remote places where all the new fancy phones couldnt get a signal yet I was able to call my Mom and wish her a Happy Bday. I dont have internet, a camera etc, it does one thing and one thing well, make and receive calls. Plus, I dont have another monthly Bill to worry about. When my minutes run out I add more. I recently purchased "Double minutes for life". So for $19.95 I get 120 minutes. I still have loads left from my last trip. I always carry an extra card for minutes in case I use them for some reason but I also can purchase minutes from my phone, at truckstops, Walmarts etc. I will be traveling with my daughter's Laptop but there isnt always wi-fi in the boonies. Shoot, there were places where I couldnt even pick up a clear radio station, lol. I want something to alert me in the middle of the night when I'm alseep in my trailer.

Glad things are going good, Ed, see ya in a few days!

[Greg H]

The weather alert radio will definitely do that, you wont sleep a wink because if the weather is bad anywhere within X amount of miles it will go off. Good but bad at the same time.

[Curtis F.]

You need a radio that is S.A.M.E. capable to be able to only listen to alerts for the area you want.

There are several portable models and numerous table top models also.

I have heard that most are a pain to keep changing the S.A.M.E codes for different locations.

Warning! Most weather alert radios have a fixed volume in the neighborhood of 100 DB for sounding alerts. There is no way to turn the volume down for the alert sound. After you acknowledge the alert then you can listen to the broadcast at a normal sound level.

I have several friends that use and like this one from Oregon Scientific . I use the midland model wr-100 at the house.

[Francesca Knowles]

Originally Posted by Terry G

I've been using this one. It's simple and automatically scans for the strongest channel You can have it wait for alerts or listen to the latest forecast. And you can't beat the price of about $18.

Amazon.com: MIDLAND HH50 Pocket Weather Radio: Electronics

I have one much like Terry's. I recommend it for its simplicity, a trait all emergency equipment should have.
It does this one thing, and very well.
I always have it with me when in the mountain backcountry, too.
The weather changes fast up there!

Francesca

[melissab]

So it sounds like for travel I want one without S.A.M.E. so I'm not having to change it when I stop or possibly forget to change it. Sounds like a great feature for the house though. Maybe time to throw out the 20 yr old one for new technology I'll actually leave set to ready instead of hiding it away in a drawer and only bring out when the weather looks bad outside. Thankfully we have days notice for hurricanes at least.

[melissab]

The Reviews are GREAT on this one. Can't beat the price either.

Originally Posted by Terry G

I've been using this one. It's simple and automatically scans for the strongest channel You can have it wait for alerts or listen to the latest forecast. And you can't beat the price of about $18.

Amazon.com: MIDLAND HH50 Pocket Weather Radio: Electronics

[Curtis F.]

I kept looking and think I like this one from Midland. You can put it in travel mode and it will operate like the HH50, searching for the strongest signal. At home you can program up to 9 county codes for it to scan. Comes with a rechargeable battery and can operate on 3 AA. You also have the option of 3 types of notification. Display - no sound just the display. Voice - 8 seconds of alert tone then broadcast. Tone - alert tone will sound for 5 minutes or until you press any key.

[Perry J]

The best receiving AM/FM/TV/WX portable I have ever had, I bought at cccrane.com.
It has all the weather bands and 5 presets. It also has a clock and an alarm.
It's the CC Crane II model.
They're expensive, about $150.00 but well worth the money.
Most of my camping is in remote areas. This is the best radio receiver I've ever had. It's 8 years old now and works as well as it did the first day.
They also have great customer service.
John