Weather Radios
A weather radio is a special radio receiver which is designed to tune into broadcasts by the National Weather Service, which is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). For this reason the radio is also known as a "NOAA weather radio" or a "NOAA weather alert radio".
Using more than 1,000 radio transmitters nationwide, NOAA broadcasts official Weather Service warnings, weather forecasts and hazard information through a network of radio stations covering all 50 states, US territories and adjacent coastal waters. Weather radios are able to tune into the frequencies of these weather stations, which broadcast on a continuous 24 x 7 basis, and receive the latest warnings and updates from NOAA. NOAA works in conjunction with the Emergency Alert System of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), so it provides users with a single and comprehensive source of weather and emergency information for all natural and other hazards.
Weather Alert Radios
A weather alert radio is required in order to receive weather radio broadcasts. These broadcasts cannot be heard on a simple AM/FM receiver. Weather alert radios which carry the Public Alert logo as certified by the Consumer Electronics Association meet certain technical standards and are preferable over weather alert radios which don’t. In addition, there are three features built into in particular models of weather radios which many consumers find particularly useful, as follows:
Tone Alarm
Immediately before broadcasting weather warnings and watches, NOAA will normally broadcast a tone alarm (pitched at a frequency of 1050 Hz), which automatically activates weather alert radios which are equipped to receive those alarms, even if the weather radio is turned off. This feature, which is found in Public Alert radios, means that weather radios do not need to be kept powered on in order to receive weather alerts, such as during the night.
Event Blocking
Some weather alert radios have an inbuilt feature which allows certain types of alerts to be blocked by the user. For example, a user may live in a state which never experiences certain weather events, such as hurricanes, so the user would be able to block hurricane warnings from being received. Weather alert radios which are enabled for event blocking can be customized in this way to the particular circumstances of the user.
SAME Technology
You can specify the particular location for which you wish to receive alerts if your weather alert radio is enabled for Specific Alert Message Encoding (SAME). Weather alerts generally relate to counties or parts of counties, and SAME technology uses this fact to enable users to filter alerts according to the county or area for which they wish to receive them. This prevents users from receiving alerts which they deem would have no relevance to them. Weather alert radios which are SAME-enabled can be programmed by the user to only receive alerts for the specific areas or counties which they choose.