Your experience with weather radios?

We just returned from a short trip and discovered that we had driven through an area where a tornado warning had been issued. Needless to say, we were blissfully (?) unaware of this warning. But it did make us think that it may be a good idea to have a weather warning system of some sort in our motorhome, since we are now planning a two month trip in the fall from Alberta to the US eastern seaboard, via the Gulf area and back through the Midwest.
Would you share with me your experiences with weather radios, especially how they are useful for RVers who are on the move all the time? Preferably something fairly low-tech?

We would much appreciate your thoughts. Thanks!

Elly

We carry an older model in a bedroom drawer.  Don't usually remember to turn it on before going to bed, though, unless I know the weather is iffy.  There's also a weather band on the radio built-in to the outside of our RV patio area.  I turn that on fairly often to check the weather for the day.

Hi Elly,

WE use a CB radio that has a weather band on it, along with the CB part.  It will also "beep" if there are weather warnings.  My problem is that you need to know the county you are in to know if the weather warning affects you.  So, if the weather looks bad, I pull out the state map and try to determine what county we are in so that I can be aware of what is going on. 

The beeping part, I like because if we go to bed, I can leave it on and if conditions change and there are weather announcements, it will beep and alert us.

I grew up in the Midwest, so I was always on the lookout for tornados.  We now live in California and there is no warning for earthquakes... ;D

Marsha~

We were traveling through Kansas one spring and thought the sky looked "funny" so Mike turned the radio to the weather channels. While it was nice to know which way the storms were moving, it also made me a nervous wreck....every time we'd get close to leaving the county where the warning was in effect, the warning would move to the next county - the one we were then entering. So ditto what Marsha said about getting out the state map....does you no good to hear that there's a tornado warning in XYZ county if you don't know which county you're in or where XYZ county is. Another year, we were in northern Kentucky when the bad tornado hit Cincinnati. We kept seeing tornado warnings on TV but had no idea what county we were in...turns out, we were in the middle of the tornado warning area. Ignorance may be bliss, but it can also be dangerous.

One other thing we learned is to watch truckers.....if you see them all diving behind a big, sturdy building, follow them!

OTH, me, I'll take an earthquake or a nice blizzard over a tornado or hurricane any day.

Wendy

I learned one thing so far and that is that a good map would come in handy to check the name of the county you're in plus neighboring counties. Now the technical part.  Marsha mentions a CB radio with a weather channel. We have a built-in CB radio but it does not give us anything. let alone weather warnings. So could you specify which brand name and model you have Marsha? Is it one of the hand-held one as I saw in the Camping World catalogue (pages 214/215)?

When you're constantly on the move, do you have to keep changing channels? How do you make sure that you're getting weather warnings for your area and not for a different and far away state?

Frank mentions that he has a weatherband built into his radio. How do you know that? We happen to be looking for a new radio in our RV right now. Can we ask for a radio with a CD player, an MP3 hookup and a weather channel?? Does that exist? How do we know the channels? Do you need a booster to receive these channels?

Questions, questions, good thing that framily is patient.......Thanks!

Two things about weather radios.. In my motor home I have, currently, 3 radios capable of receiving NOAA broadcasts.  Two are 2-mtr ham rids with "extended receive" and one Midland pocket weather alert

1st... You have to set a S.A.M.E. radio to TRAVEL mode to get all the alerts

2nd: The short antenna on the pocket radio is not nearly as good as my full wave "T" pole for 2 meters, it's not as good as the NGP (1/2 wave) 2 meter antenna for the driver's radio.  The radio shows "NO SIGNAL" where as both of the ham rigs get a signal

The Driver's radio gets a fair signal (Quite a bit of noise but you can hear the forcast/warning) the main radio (using the big pole 25 feet up in the air) gets a strong signal (Nearly full quieting) Tests done during a server storm by the way.

I"m thinking of rigging the portable to use the big antenna since the only thing I'm using it for is weather just now

(Short test lead, two loops around the stubby antenna lead)

Elly,

I'm not sure what Camping World has; but we have a hand held unit from Radio Shack.  We chose the hand held unit because we could take it along with us when we used the tow car.

We also have a CB antenna on the roof of the coach and I remove the short little antenna from the radio and "screw" on the end of the external CB cable.  That gives me much better range and clarity.  WE don't used the CB very often; but when we see traffic building up or notice something unusual; I turn it on and listen to what the truckers have to say.  That way we know if we need to take a detour or which lane to be in to avoid the problem.

Wendy, I'm like you, I'll take a good ole earthquake anyday over a tornado....now the blizzards you can keep!

Marsha~

I like the idea of attaching the CB roof antenna to the handheld unit. It sounds like that is a good way to go. BTW we used to have Radio Shack in western Canada but now it is Circuit City. Is that the same outfit?

I  read somewhere that there are FRs with built-in weather reports. Any experience with those?

Thanks for all the comments so far.

Elly,  As far as I know, Radio Shack and Circuit City are not the same store.  Our CB is in the coach and I don't have access to the model number for you; but I did find the Radio Shack website.  They are showing 2 units: one a mini and the other a standard size one.  We have the standard size "Cobra".  So, it looks like you can order it online.

If you can connect your cable from the antenna on the roof to the handheld it will work much better.  It tends to run the batteries down more quickly that way; but I just attach the charger to the CB and it does great.

Here is the website:  CB Handheld

What's an FR?

Marsha~

Elly,

I forgot to add something. 

You asked

Elly Dalmaijer said:

When you're constantly on the move, do you have to keep changing channels? How do you make sure that you're getting weather warnings for your area and not for a different and far away state?

Click to expand...

You don't have to change channels.  When you put the CB Weather portion on "scan", it will pick up the strongest signal which may or may not be in the immediate area you are at that moment; but it gives you the report for the local area.  YOu then get out the map and do a more precise identification of where you are and where the severe weather is happening.  I.E. the counties location etc.

Marsha~

Elly,

A FR is a "family radio" that a lot of us use to talk to one another on four-wheeling adventures or even between spouses at rallies.  You can use them even in areas where there is no cell phone service.

Our motorhome came with a Cobra? 75 WX ST Remote Mount CB Radio Model: C75-WXST (Catalog #: 55012473).  One of the buttons is WX for the NOAA weather stations.  That works but I think we get a lot of static that we can't effectively tune out.  Also, if you have it on at night, would you be able to hear it if it's up front and you're sleeping in the back?

We also have a Radio Shack table model weather radio that has an electrical plug.  It looks similar to their 7-Channel Bedside SAME Weather Radio with Alarm Clock Model: 12-382 (Catalog #: 12-382) but it's an older model with no alarm clock.  The newer version might be their Midland? All Weather/Hazards Alert Radio with AM/FM Tuning, Model: WR-300 (Catalog #: 55024828).  I prefer it to the CB.  When we got it I initially thought I would need to have all the NOAA channels throughout the country, but found it handles them quite easily.  The "programmable" in this case only means that when you arrive in a new area you simply move a lever to Program and then move around the 7 channels until you find one that comes in, then move the lever back to listening mode.  We bought one for my sister who lived in South Carolina and she liked it so much that we bought one for ourselves.  Normally it's in the bedroom, but if we're driving and want to hear it I bring it to the front and plug it in.  I definitely like having one that runs with an electrical plug as opposed to one with batteries that might die right when you need it most.

As to counties, yes you need a good map while you're traveling to keep track of where you are.  AAA  maps are excellent for this.  Also, the Trailer Life Campground Directory includes the county at the beginning of each campground's listing.  They added this feature a couple of years ago, specifically for the weather alert purpose.

Sounds like you're going to have a good trip.

ArdraF

Elly Dalmaijer said:

...Frank mentions that he has a weatherband built into his radio. How do you know that? We happen to be looking for a new radio in our RV right now. Can we ask for a radio with a CD player, an MP3 hookup and a weather channel?? Does that exist? How do we know the channels? Do you need a booster to receive these channels?
...

Click to expand...

In my case it is a Jensen radio & CD player.  The bands it receives are listed on the front:  AM/FM/Weather.  It's connected to a fixed 12-inch wire antenna on top the RV.  No booster.

There are seven National Weather Radio (NOAA) frequencies in use in the US. Many regular radios will have a "Weather" switch built in which will tune the radio to the 'band' of frequencies used. They will usually also have a small tuning knob which will let you fine tune it across that band and allow you to pick up one or more of those station frequencies. Following are the frequencies: 

162.400, 162.425, 162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525, 162.550 MHz
Many people have scanners, and you can program in the stations manually.

If I'm in a new area, I just run across each of the seven frequencies on the weather band and then go back to the one that came in clearest.  Most always, it is the closest one and the one for that area.

The Midland S.A.M.E. alert radio I have auto-scans the 7 frequencies and then picks the one it thinks is best

On my ham rigs I just pick chan 30 and scan up from there  or if I can't find one hit the MEMORY->VFO button and manual tune (I only have the big 3 on pre-set

My apologies for disappearing for a few weeks. Had a battle with pneumonia but now I'm back in weather radio mode.
Thanks to all for you extensive answers. I have learned a lot and we have a good basis to make a decision.

Now a final question: since Jack and I work so much in Africa we wonder if there is such a thing as a weather warning network there? Does anyone know? It would be great to know if some deluge is about to hit just as we are setting off on a 100 mile mud road!

Elly

Welcome back Elly. Sorry to hear about the pneumonia, but hope you're over it now.

In Africia I doubt there is a NOAA type weather alert system.. However you would have to check with local government types

What you can do is learn a bit about satellite weather forecasting and using common Ham Radio receivers intercept weather sat transmissions.. You can then get WE-Fax pictures of the cloud formations and make your own decidions on weather.

Alas.. I am not involved in that at this time.  You DO NOT need a license to RECEIVE weather fax transmissions