by Richard C. Rhodes, K5OQ
It seems fair to say that weather radios which trigger an audio alarm for all weather alerts within about a 50 mile radius are not very practical. In 1994 NOAA weather radio began transmitting codes with their forecasts known as SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding). The actual codes are called FIPS (Federal Information Processing System). These codes could allow a radio to pick up forecasts for a specific county and select only the Alerts you wanted to trigger your audio alarm. I explored this subject in depth about a year ago in an article which is reproduced at www.home.earthlink.net/~rickhgtx/wxradios.html
Radio Shack produced a radio that would allow you to specify the county or counties from which you wanted to receive alerts. But it still triggered on all the Alerts in that county or counties. For those who lived on high ground, for example, being awakened at 3 a.m. to be told that there was a Flash Flood Watch, was simply a nuisance.
Now, Radio Shack has produced their second-generation SAME radio (Model 12-250). This model allows you to select any one of the seven NOAA weather radio frequencies in the 162 MHz band. You can also select up to 15 counties from which you want to receive weather alerts. But, new to this radio is the capability to disable Alerts that you do not want to trigger your radio's audio alert tone or siren.
A Watch means that conditions are favorable for the particular weather hazard to develop. A Warning means that the hazard has either been reported or is imminent. Upward of 90 percent of Watches never turn into Warnings. So, the radio allows you to eliminate most weather watches. You can disable a Severe Thunderstorm Watch, since they are quite common and most often do not develop into Thunderstorm Warnings.
Because Tornadoes can be so devastating, Radio Shack decided to prevent the user from blocking either a Tornado Watch or Warning. Possibly the right call, but in Tornado Alley, there are a lot of Tornado Watches that never produce a Warning - a lot of them. Yet, you can disable a Hurricane Watch. The distinction drawn by Radio Shack between the threat posed by a Tornado Watch (cannot disable) and a Hurricane Watch (can disable) is a little difficult to grasp. You cannot disable many other "critical" Alerts, such as Hazardous Material Watches and Warnings. But, on balance, most of the "nuisance" Alerts can be disabled.
As I worked with the radio, I was unable to block any Alerts, although several were sounded. The instructions for blocking Alerts start on page 38, and I submit that they are useless. An e-mail to a knowledgeable source at Radio Shack produced instructions for blocking Alerts that were clear and workable. I repeat them here for all of you who have the radio and have had trouble blocking an Alert.
How to Enable or Disable an Alert Tone
Put the radio in Program mode.
Press YES button until the first alert description shows on the display (Severe Thunder Watch). This will be right after your LOC xx selections.
With the type of watch being displayed on the screen, press YES to enable the alert, and NO to disable the alert. As soon as you press one of the two keys, the display will switch to the next type of alert that can be enabled/disabled. Press the YES or NO button for each of them displayed.
(note: you do NOT get any confirmation of what you just pressed - your confirmation comes after the Select Check message)
After the 28 types of alerts are displayed (listed on pages 37/38 of the manual), the words SELECT CHECK will show. This is where you will see whether you pressed YES or NO.
Press YES key to move through each the alerts you just went through. The difference in the display is that it will show either TONE ON or TONE OFF.
This section of the program mode just confirms the selections you made in the steps above. Make sure to let each alert display long enough to see the TONE ON/OFF message.
If one of the alerts is wrong, you must go all the way through the entire process again by putting the radio in Operate mode, then back into PROGRAM mode and start all over.
End of e-mailed Instruction
Radio Shack constantly upgrades their Web site, so URLs for pages change. If you have questions about the SAME WX radios, the FIPS codes, etc., I suggest you go to their home page and do a search. For the FIPS codes, you can also go to the NOAA site I list later.Even though you disable an Alert, if it is broadcast it will still display on the LCD readout. You disable only the Alert Alarm feature. Once you block an Alert or Alerts, it (they) are disabled for all counties you are programmed to listen to, or counties you might add in the future, and are saved in memory until you choose to change your list of disabled Alerts. That is, you do not need the 9-volt backup battery to save your programmed settings. A bit cumbersome, but once you have your list set, you are free from Alerts that have no meaning to you. This is a giant leap forward in weather radios! Look for refinements in the way the Radio Shack SAME radios are programmed - as time moves along.
You can obtain a list of NOAA Weather Radio stations and the SAME/FIPS codes for each one, listed by state, at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/nwrsame.htm/
For example, the SAME code 048439 is for Tarrant County, Texas. The 48 is Texas, and the 439 is Tarrant County. The leading Zero (0) space is reserved for County Subdivisions in very large counties (0 to 9).
Once you print a list for your state, and adjoining states if you live near a border, you will notice that each NOAA radio station provides weather information and alerts for specific nearby counties. It may be that the station nearest you is not the one you want to listen to. Let me explain. Most of the severe weather in NE Texas comes from the West, Northwest, and Southwest. If you live in Eastern Fannin County, the closest NOAA weather radio station is in Paris, TX, (in Lamar County) about 25 miles away to the East. But Paris does not cover the counties to the West of Fannin County. These counties are covered by the Sherman station, which is about 60 miles away.
So, I listen to the Sherman NOAA station to give me early warning from the West, Northwest (southern Oklahoma) and the Southwest. Ideally, the radio could be programmed to scan two or more NOAA stations, for example, Paris and Sherman, to provide Alerts from more directions. But, the scan of two or more stations is not a feature on the current Radio Shack model. It is only on the "wish list."
My radio is receiving Sherman, TX, about 60 miles away. By moving it a few feet or inches here and there in the house, I am able to get a good signal from Sherman on just the supplied whip antenna. Pretty good reception for a 162 MHz signal from inside the house.
NOAA began broadcasting SAME/FIPS codes in 1994. It is not until 1999 that we get the first consumer weather radio that takes full advantage of the specific county and specific alert codes. In the intervening years, people who tired of being alerted to warnings and watches that had no meaning to them put their radios in the closet. One can only wonder how many lives might have been saved and injuries prevented if the consumer electronics industry had produced a fully-capable SAME radio when the technology was first available.
If you have questions or comments about the Model 12-250 weather radio or any Radio Shack equipment, you can e-mail to: support@tandy.com I have never tried it, but give it a shot.
Oregon Scientific produces a portable SAME weather radio, WR-102, but it does not allow you to disable specific alerts.In answer to my e-mail, they said that they would be marketing a desktop model in the end of the Summer that will allow the user to select counties and specific alerts. See: www.oregonscientific.com
Midland Radio has a Model 74-200 SAME weather radio, but it does not appear to be able to disable specific alerts. See: www.midlandradio.com They answered me e-mail by saying that such a project (county and alert-specific radio) was in the works.
Update on 09/04/2000: Since I wrote this in July of 1999, there have been some new SAME WX radios come on the market. You might want to check them out with a Web search. My Radio Shack SAME WX receiver has worked perfectly, once I learned how to block specific alerts.
Update 2005: About a year or more ago, Amber Alerts were added to the alerts decoded and broadcast by SAME weather radios. After being awakened at 3 a.m. by an Amber Alert, I tried to figure out how to block Amber Alerts on my Radio Shack 12-250 weather radio. No luck. So, I sent an e-mail to tech support at Radio Shack asking them how to block Amber Alerts and never got a reply. So, for over a year, I have had my Radio Shack 12-250 unplugged, relying on the old method of being awakened by ligthning crashes. Maybe before 2005 is over, I can get an answer from Radio Shack - and will post it here.
Update: May 13, 2006: I stumbled across a Web page by another ham, Bob, N2JTX, where he lists all the FIPS codes recognized by the RS 12-250. He also notes the codes that were added since the radio was produced (such as the Child Abduction Emergency - CAE) and tells how they might show up on the 12-250. This, in essence, tells you how to block the new ones you don't want. See: http://www.schaffrath.net/weatheradio-12-250.html
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Richard C. Rhodes, K5OQ
07/04/99