Author Topic: best weather radio  (Read 15931 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline srmva

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1
best weather radio
« on: June 28, 2008, 12:17:32 PM »
Hi All, I'm new to the forum. I am a Pilot, spotter, weather enthusiast. I would like your opinoin on the best, most dependable weather radio w/ same. In reading through the post's it seems alot  have Midland's WR-300.

I have been tasked with buying some for our work place locations.

Do they make a radio that you can select which watches / warnings you want to recieve?  Ie. I just want to receive severe weather warnings and not flood watches, ozone or non precipitation events. just severe t storm and tornado watches/warning.
thanks,
 Scott

Offline katlon

  • LONNIE'S WEATHER STATION
  • Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 142
  • GO HEELS!!!
    • LONNIE'S WEATHER STATION
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2008, 03:24:52 PM »
Scott
I have a Reecom R-1630 which I use which would probably serve your needs. I use it to broadcast just the s.a.m.e. warnings of Greenville Co., SC over the internet. Some folks have stated that they have had a hard time programming the receiver but with a little time and effort it has worked perfectly for me for more than a year. Below is a link to the receiver.

Lonnie

http://www.reecominc.com/

Offline George Richardson

  • WxElement panel
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1391
    • Smith Mountain Lake Weather
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #2 on: June 28, 2008, 08:08:07 PM »
Scott,
The Midland WR-300 does do what you are asking. VERY nice radio. Have had mine about a month and am happy with the value.
FWIW
George

Offline Anthony

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1707
    • Anthony's Weather
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2008, 08:35:54 AM »
I have a handheld all hazards weather radio from Radio Shack. You can enter upto 10 FIPS codes, it has S.A.M.E. technology and allows you to select what events you want to recieve. Will run on either AC or DC.

Downfalls, battery life stinks (about 3 or 4 days) & no outside antenna connection.



Thanks,
Anthony
WB8YUE

Offline WaunaWx

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #4 on: September 11, 2008, 11:49:43 PM »
Scott
I have a Reecom R-1630 which I use which would probably serve your needs. I use it to broadcast just the s.a.m.e. warnings of Greenville Co., SC over the internet. Some folks have stated that they have had a hard time programming the receiver but with a little time and effort it has worked perfectly for me for more than a year. Below is a link to the receiver.

Lonnie

http://www.reecominc.com/

I would have to agree. I have the R-1630 as well and have been very pleased with the radio. I live in WI and we have tornado and severe T-storms all the time and the radio worked as it should. I would recommend this radio.
Another Ambient Wx site refugee!

Offline capeweather

  • Global Moderator
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1309
    • http://www.capeweather.com
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #5 on: September 12, 2008, 01:56:37 AM »
Scott
I have a Reecom R-1630 which I use which would probably serve your needs. I use it to broadcast just the s.a.m.e. warnings of Greenville Co., SC over the internet. Some folks have stated that they have had a hard time programming the receiver but with a little time and effort it has worked perfectly for me for more than a year. Below is a link to the receiver.

Lonnie

http://www.reecominc.com/

I would have to agree. I have the R-1630 as well and have been very pleased with the radio. I live in WI and we have tornado and severe T-storms all the time and the radio worked as it should. I would recommend this radio.

I have this radio as well but I do have a hard time keeping it on the air. It wants to shut off sporadically and I seem to be constantly turning it back on. Do you have the radio tweaked to not turn off somehow? If so, I'd love to hear what you have your settings at. Thanks.

Chris
Cape Coral, Florida
Website: http://www.capeweather.com
Website: http://www.fortmyersweather.net

Offline ncpilot

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 937
    • Monkey Junction Weather
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #6 on: September 12, 2008, 09:45:19 AM »
Hi All, I'm new to the forum. I am a Pilot, spotter, weather enthusiast...
 Scott

Pilot's are the best!  ;)

On topic, I have the Midland 300, works fine, pain to program since by default you get all watches and warnings, so you have to turn all of them off except the couple you really want to get--it's just tedious. I mean really, do I need the hurricane watch/warning to go off? If I don't know one's approaching, then I'm really SOL... For fun, I suppose I could add the code for the next county over, and set up an alarm for their nuclear plant... (or as some might prefer, nuculer... :)). For my area, I only set warnings for tornadoes and T-storms...
Marc
Wilmington, NC
"Monkey Junction Weather"
Davis VP2 wireless, WeatherLink

Offline NiceBill

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 406
  • Texas Township, Illinois
    • Texas Township, Clinton, Illinois 61727  Weather
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #7 on: September 12, 2008, 12:19:31 PM »
I only fly via. my flight simulator. :grin:


If I stay with the subject title -- "best weather radio" kinda depends on how much you are in to weather or just what do you specifically wish to hear about the weather.

I use and consider it to be the best, a Uniden Trunk Tracker IV BCD996T.  Has 6000 channels and you can program it to hear about anything you wish. You can hear all weather related activities in your area.  You can hear the hams during an emergency broadcasting from the local NWS stations.  If it's being broadcast in your area and with the proper antenna you will hear it, my range is about 50 mi.,  W/Repeaters???.  The radio can be powered 120V AC or 12V DC in a power failure.  When the alarm goes off, it will blow you out of your chair.

I also have a Midland 300, which works quite well, but you asked what is the best weather radio, I will still vote for a Uniden.

Edit: forgot to note, the BCD996T is also all controllable from the computer.  Extra program and USB cable required.

Bill.>>>>>>>>>>>> :-)
« Last Edit: September 12, 2008, 01:44:05 PM by NiceBill »
[note: Bill passed away December 31, 2008 -- Rest in Peace Bill, you'll be missed!]

Offline katlon

  • LONNIE'S WEATHER STATION
  • Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 142
  • GO HEELS!!!
    • LONNIE'S WEATHER STATION
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #8 on: September 12, 2008, 02:48:01 PM »
Quote
I have this radio as well but I do have a hard time keeping it on the air. It wants to shut off sporadically and I seem to be constantly turning it back on. Do you have the radio tweaked to not turn off somehow? If so, I'd love to hear what you have your settings at. Thanks.

As far as I know there is no tweak to keep it on all the time but I may be wrong. I do seem to remember somewhere that someone else was having to turn the radio back on after each warning but I do not have that problem. I use just one s.a.m.e. county warning and it has worked perfectly every time for about a year now. I rarely even monitor the radio but when I do it is always on.

Lonnie

Offline WeatherBeacon

  • Chief
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1369
    • http://www.wxbeacon.com
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #9 on: September 13, 2008, 11:31:19 AM »
I got a Midland WR-300 in April and have been very pleased with it. To be fair, I can't compare it with other radios as this is the only one I've owned, so I'm not suggesting that it's better than the others.

At first it annoyed my wife because it was going off all the time. But once I took time to program it, that took care of that, and now she has a new sense of peace knowing that it's there. I program the S.A.M.E. codes only for my county and the adjacent counties immediately to my S, W, and N. It has many programming features. For example, you can exclude certain alerts if you like. It isn't just a weather radio...it is an "All Alerts" radio (chemical spills, fire alerts, etc.).

When the family and I went on a 2,000+ mile road trip, I took it along as it runs off batteries as well as AC. While driving I turned it on when the weather looked dicey and got instant reports. At one point I could see a downpour ahead of us. I turned the radio on and it mentioned hail, and sure enough, we drove through hail. Sure, it isn't designed to be a portable, but it can be used as such when necessary.

Nice radio.

Regards,

Kevin...


EDIT:   Fixed a word.
« Last Edit: September 13, 2008, 11:40:29 AM by WeatherBeacon »
Mae govannen!
Kevin  (Member AMS) http://www.wxbeacon.com               Genesee County, Michigan
Hardware:  Davis Vantage Pro Wireless, Midland WR-300
Software: VWS 14.01p43, WeatherFlash, & GRLevel3

Offline George Richardson

  • WxElement panel
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1391
    • Smith Mountain Lake Weather
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #10 on: September 13, 2008, 01:38:35 PM »
Nice post Kevin,
I never thought of " emergency battery backup" = portable.
George

Offline mmorris

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 766
  • Hope your day is full of sunshine
    • Weather and Racin
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #11 on: September 14, 2008, 07:27:53 AM »
I'm using the Reecom Model R-1650 as my weather radio it a S.A.M.E. Digital Weather/All Hazard Alert Radio With Am/Fm Digital Radio with alarm clock. I have all the county to the west and south plus my county programed in and I also block some alerts. Really glad this radio can block alert as I got the flood warning blocked as with my old radio the NWS would wake me up every time it rained. So I'm pleased with this radio. If I can remember it a couple of years old now.   =D>

Battery Backup Time             185 Hours ( Standby Mode )
( with fresh alkaline battery )   50 Hours ( WX Audio On )
« Last Edit: September 14, 2008, 07:33:48 AM by mmorris »
>>Miles<<  By from Portage Lakes, OH.
Been using VWS since 1996 Ver# 14.01P43
Wireless Vantage Pro2Plus Serial Data Logger, Anemo Tran Kit
Win XP, Firefox, WXSIM, Cumulus, NexStorm, Yawcam, VVP, BadBlue Web server, Quake Catcher Net
Follow me on twitter
Vietnam era Veteran USAF bb loader
Quadruple Bypass survivor

Offline Tundra

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3
  • GoodToGo
    • InnsfilWeather.Com
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #12 on: September 14, 2008, 04:17:03 PM »
Hi Scott I have a Reecom 1650 and a Midland 300. I have to say the Midland is my favorite, only because it has a Blue backlight and it's ergonomically designed to sit on a night table. (Much to my wife’s discontent) They both have AM/FM - S.A.M.E - date/time alarm etc and are fairly straight forward to program. Ultimately I don’t think you will go wrong with either one. Having said that, if money is not an object the Uniden Trunk Tracker IV BCD996T looks pretty nice, I’m putting that one on my Christmas list.  :grin:
Scott Green
« Last Edit: September 19, 2008, 04:49:27 PM by Tundra »

Offline WB5CCO

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #13 on: December 21, 2008, 09:48:05 PM »
I like the Midland WR100 weather receiver.  It is a simple unit, small footprint and has SAME.  Can be had most anywhere for around 30 bucks. 
Richard
WB5CCO
Davis Vantage Pro 2 6163
KLABUSH5

Offline W Thomas

  • Welcome to my area!
  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 1643
  • In Loving Memory Of Hooker The Weather Dog !
    • Smyth-Grayson Weather
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #14 on: December 22, 2008, 07:25:10 PM »
I have been using the Radio Shack SAME unit that has an aux antenna connection.. I forget the model number right off hand..but it has been fairly reliable. Only faults I have are caused by my location and that is paging interference causing the receiver to desense and sometimes false.

I haven't tried  a band pass cavity in the antenna leg yet..that may help some here.

Other than that it works great.



Wayne
www.smythweather.net
CW8217


     Best Regards
     Wayne

CWOP CW8217
KVAWHITE22 Wunderground   Davis VUE &  Davis Vantage Pro 2  /   Dedicated Server
GR Level 3 ,Level 2 AE Radars  Weather Display 10.37P  Mid Atlantic Weather Network Member
SkyWarn & Spotter Network 6092

Offline JOE

  • Forecaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 390
    • Centralia IL Weather
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #15 on: December 30, 2008, 10:06:43 AM »
I have a handheld all hazards weather radio from Radio Shack. You can enter upto 10 FIPS codes, it has S.A.M.E. technology and allows you to select what events you want to recieve. Will run on either AC or DC.

Downfalls, battery life stinks (about 3 or 4 days) & no outside antenna connection.




Get an universal AC adapter from somewhere and plug it in.  I used one of the models that came with a bunch of different "tips" and found one that works.  Saves a lot of batteries.  But can still unplug it and use as a portable or if power goes out.

Joe
www.centraliaweather.com
DW1376
KILCENTR2
K9RJN


Offline f86sabjf

  • Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 103
Re: best weather radio
« Reply #16 on: February 13, 2009, 03:23:56 PM »
I love my WR 300 take the 5min it takes to program it and forget about it. Had mine I believe 2 years now and its never let me down or false alerted in any way and the am/fm recieving is prettty good too.
acu-rite #825