Do you use the NOAA Weather Radio feature(s) on GMRS?

[radiozip]

Mostly just curious since it’s a feature I see requested frequently; do you use weather radio on GMRS?

Personally I may listen when I see dark skies on the horizon; otherwise I forget about it. I never enable alerts since a NOAA station can cover a 40 miles radius, so my radio alerting me every few minutes for storms 60+ miles away is pointless. Few GMRS radios offer SAME which would help; but would the average GMRS user bother programming? Maybe a feature where it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. So any personal stories where having NOAA weather radio helped?

[SteveShannon]

No.  I don’t use it on any of my radios - GMRS or otherwise. Just not interested.  If I wanted, I would enable alerts on my phone instead.

[fe2o3]

Yes, I program NOAA Wx into all my radios that can receive those freq's, be they GMRS or HAM.
It's handy if I go driving cross country.  Here, north of Dallas, when the conditions are right, I can pick up NWS transmitters on all or most of the freq's.

[Lscott]

3 hours ago, fe2o3 said:

Yes, I program NOAA Wx into all my radios that can receive those freq's, be they GMRS or HAM.
It's handy if I go driving cross country.  Here, north of Dallas, when the conditions are right, I can pick up NWS transmitters on all or most of the freq's.

There was a line of heavy T-storms that moved through Michigan early last night. I was out in Oxford Mi visiting so tried to get one of the stations for the latest updates. Reception sucked, couldn't pickup crap on any of the usual frequencies, and that was with a commercial grade HT VHF radio too, not some POS CCR one. The ability is nice to have but it doesn't work at times, likely when you really need it.

[tweiss3]

I have it in the car. Better to listen to the updates on the road then mess with the phone. Don't use alerts, and don't use it very often, but it's nice to have when needed, especially traveling in unfamiliar places.

[WRXB215]

I listen to NOAA on my GMRS radio quite often.

[back4more70]

We are moving to Cheyenne WY in a couple of weeks.  There is a 1,000 watt NOAA station there, pretty sure I'll tune it in easily!  Especially with the crazy weather changes out there, it may become my new favorite frequency.

[WRUU653]

I don't have notifications on and don't monitor that often but when we had storms and flooding this past winter I was checking in. I pick up two NOAA channels where I'm at. It's mostly coastal info. It's an easy way to find out the water temps and surf hight and tides.

[Sab02r]

Yeah, I use mine.

I don't enable alerts but I do program the Wx channels at the very top end of the memory channel list and set them to skip so that I don't have to hear them on every scan but can still easily navigate to them when I want.  That came in handy last week in the mountains to let me know that a particular route was temporarily closed, then last weekend to let me know how hot and miserable I was going to be cleaning up brush by the pond...then again this weekend to let me know I was going to get wet while camping.

Until you asked, I didn't realize how often I used them.

[MarkInTampa]

Don't see the need to use NOAA at least here. Any weather alerts are usually broadcasted out over the Florida Statewide Amateur Radio Network (SARnet) repeaters and I do monitor those.

[back4more70]

2 hours ago, markskjerve said:

Don't see the need to use NOAA at least here. Any weather alerts are usually broadcasted out over the Florida Statewide Amateur Radio Network (SARnet) repeaters and I do monitor those.

Do you know if they are rebroadcasting the NOAA alerts?  I am curious.

[MarkInTampa]

4 hours ago, back4more70 said:

Do you know if they are rebroadcasting the NOAA alerts?  I am curious.

Kinda sorta. They don't rebroadcast the actual alert but they do read it line for line as it's put out. It is a pretty cool network of 70cm ham repeaters that link across Florida's DOT microwave and fiber networks and covers most of the state.

 

 

[gortex2]

I have WX channels in any radio that will accept them. I dont monitor them routinely but do change to them during weather events. 

[BoxCar]

WX is on the radios, set to activate if an alert is received.

[radiozip]

On 6/26/2023 at 12:31 PM, Sab02r said:

Until you asked, I didn't realize how often I used them.

A reason I started this thread, actual field use of the feature! Thanks for the feedback.

 

4 hours ago, BoxCar said:

WX is on the radios, set to activate if an alert is received.

Does your GMRS radio do SAME, or do you listen to all alerts on the local weather radio station? Just curious. If I had all alerts on today my radio would've gone off every 2 minutes! (central Maryland, so many strong storms in the region today)

[BoxCar]

I use this on my amateur radios, not the GMRS ones.

[marcspaz]

I don't use it on my GMRS radio, but if GMRS was my only radio, I would. We are prone to get tornadoes here, so I have my amateur radio set to give me alerts when we have bad weather inbound. Otherwise I leave it off.

 

On 6/26/2023 at 2:32 PM, markskjerve said:

Don't see the need to use NOAA at least here. Any weather alerts are usually broadcasted out over the Florida Statewide Amateur Radio Network (SARnet) repeaters and I do monitor those.

 

Man, I love the SARnet.  Being in my Jeep in St. Pete talking to people in Panama City Beach and Miami without needing DMR, Wires-x, etc., is pretty awesome. And yes, the abbreviated notifications that a weather alerts exist is a pretty nice feature. Thankfully most of the standalone amateur repeaters in VA also provide that service, too.

[WRCZ387]

15 hours ago, gortex2 said:

I have WX channels in any radio that will accept them. I don't monitor them routinely but do change to them during weather events. 

I do the same

I have the NOAA freqs programmed in my dual band h-t's, & in my VHF mono band h-t's, they came pre-programmed in my Alinco DJ-VX50

I work outside, I'm in Florida close to the Gulf, from May to November I'd rather have them & not need them rather than be kicking myself for not having them, better safe than sorry

I also have lightning/radar/weather apps in my phone for additional info/backup

73 & a safe summer to everyone

[radiozip]

13 hours ago, BoxCar said:

I use this on my amateur radios, not the GMRS ones.

Now I'm wondering do any two way radios offer SAME? Ham, GMRS, business or otherwise ? Google only shows me receivers, and I can't recall of any.

[WRXH357]

While I do use the NOAA weather feature on the KG-1000G+ it does have one problem.  Seems like I can't adjust the volume while using NOAA.  Since I attached some external speakers it just BLASTS the NOAA regardless of the GMRS channel(s) volume.

Being near the Gulf Of Mexico it's another resource to hear about changing weather/water condition reports.  

[tweiss3]

Woke up to one storm this past week in the middle of nowhere. Information was better jumping on the Skywarn net than NOAA. I did listen to both, but having zero internet access, it was easier to get information from someone on the net who could look at the radar and using their experience to see how long the storm will hang around.

[WRWE456]

I use it mostly while on road trips on the KG-935G+ and/or my scanner.

[dosw]

I don't really like waiting through the whole 5-10 minute loop to get a few seconds of what I need, so I don't use NOAA broadcasts often anymore. Before the proliferation of  connected devices like phones, it was more necessary. And NOAA reception is usually more reliable than cellular connectivity, so it does have its usefulness. I used to really appreciate having it on my Marine VHF radio in the 90s and early 2000s, for example.

 

It is a good feature to have on a radio that you could take with you on the trail or in the back country. I'd rather not carry a separate receiver just for NOAA.

On 6/28/2023 at 9:09 AM, radiozip said:

Now I'm wondering do any two way radios offer SAME? Ham, GMRS, business or otherwise ? Google only shows me receivers, and I can't recall of any.

I thought that the Midland handhelds offer SAME. I have a couple of older Motorolas that do, for sure. Cool feature, in principle. I've never actually gotten an alert via SAME that I wasn't aware of, though.

[Coastie1998]

I have purchase two KG-935G Plus radios, tuned in the best weather freq for my area, which is Loud and Clear, set the alert feature to give and alarm, but neither radio will alert.  Tried all of the choices, but nothing.  Was told by the company where I purchased the radios that they will only alert for major events.  Well a Cat 3 hurricane seemed to be a major event, still no alert.  So what am I doing wrong?

[marcspaz]

1 hour ago, Coastie1998 said:

I have purchase two KG-935G Plus radios, tuned in the best weather freq for my area, which is Loud and Clear, set the alert feature to give and alarm, but neither radio will alert.  Tried all of the choices, but nothing.  Was told by the company where I purchased the radios that they will only alert for major events.  Well a Cat 3 hurricane seemed to be a major event, still no alert.  So what am I doing wrong?

 

The weather alert feature scans the weather frequencies and listens for the "alert tones". If the Nation Weather Service / NOAA doesn't transmit a tone, the scan feature has nothing to trigger on.