NOAA Weather Radio opinions...

[Western]

I bought one from Radio Shack for around $30, it has batteries and a charger, so it is portable as far as that goes. We have taken it to the "hole" a few times.

If I find it, (wife puts it up in the winter) I will post the model for you to consider. You can program it for your area which I like, so I don't have to hear warnings from 10 counties away.

They are predicting a worse tornado season than usual, so probably a good idea to get it out and wipe the dust off.

 

[escavader]

Ialso have a radio shack one,dont know 1/2 of what it can do.Its in my daily commuter,i listen to weather every day on way to work

 

[JeremyL]

I just got one of these, so don't have much experience with how well it works or holds up:

Kaito KA500 Emerg Solar Crank Radio

Kaito KA500 Emerg Solar Crank Radio ipod cel charger AC - eBay (item 140495086200 end time Feb-07-11 19:54:51 PST)

Portable. Not heavy-duty. Gizmo rich.

 

[LostInTheWoods]

I can follow what is going on via TV until the rain knocks out my satillite dish and we have DSL but it gets really slow during peak times. I think the weather sites get slow at the same time due to multiple users wanting to see what is going on.

The "knobs" where I live seem to break up the straight line winds pretty well and our house is high and dry so my main concern is tornadoes. I want a hand held unit so I can move it around the house.

I found this Oregon Scientific hand held along with this Midland. Either model looks like what I may be looking for. I had called the number for this site and asked for further info but they have not gotten back to me yet.

We've had a portable Radio Shack weather radio for years. Nice size, very portable. Still use it for camping trips. Battery life is OK, but not great. We live "way out", and reception can be very spotty in the basement. Most problematic, it is not programmable. So every T-storm in all the surrounding counties set it off. Not great if you're trying to sleep at night and really only want it to wake you up if there's a tornado approaching you, specifically. Newer programmable models would definitely be an improvement, but I wouldn't know about reception.

 

[QRTRHRS]

We've had a portable Radio Shack weather radio for years. Nice size, very portable. Still use it for camping trips. Battery life is OK, but not great. We live "way out", and reception can be very spotty in the basement. Most problematic, it is not programmable. So every T-storm in all the surrounding counties set it off. Not great if you're trying to sleep at night and really only want it to wake you up if there's a tornado approaching you, specifically. Newer programmable models would definitely be an improvement, but I wouldn't know about reception.

That is exactly my problem. My radio shack is about the size of a cell phone only twice as thick so it's easy to move around and all. I don't have a problem with reception except the sound is terrible. It works better when I hold it. I can set it down and loose the signal or garble it. Mostly, I don't trust it anymore because I can turn it on and then have to fiddle with the channel switch to get it working. But then I might have had it for 15-20 years so it does not owe me anything.

 

[LostInTheWoods]

That is exactly my problem. My radio shack is about the size of a cell phone only twice as thick so it's easy to move around and all. I don't have a problem with reception except the sound is terrible. It works better when I hold it. I can set it down and loose the signal or garble it. Mostly, I don't trust it anymore because I can turn it on and then have to fiddle with the channel switch to get it working. But then I might have had it for 15-20 years so it does not owe me anything.

:laughing: I just realized we're probably close enough to each other that we're likely responding to many of the same storm systems. Had a pretty good one here a few days ago.

 

[whistlepig]

This looks like it might be able to block all unwanted warnings:

Amazon.com: MIDLAND WR300 Weather Radio: Electronics

PDF Manual: http://www.midlandradio.com/Resource_/OwnerManual/166/WR300-301 Manual Revised 3.11.08.pdf

I have been looking for something like this. Thanks very much for the links.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I have been looking for something like this. Thanks very much for the links.

WallyWorld has a lesser model, I think it's a WR100 for around 30 bucks.

 

[QRTRHRS]

:laughing: I just realized we're probably close enough to each other that we're likely responding to many of the same storm systems. Had a pretty good one here a few days ago.

I am in Casey about 7-8 miles west of Eubank so I know about the EF1 in Stanford the other day.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Finally got around to ordering a new hand held weather radio. Got this Midland HH54VP2 through Amazon.com.

I just got through programming it. Not to bad to program but unless I am not understanding it, this unit does not allow you to pick and choose your alerts.

What it does offer though is the ability to program up to nine areas. Go to the NOAA website and pick your state which will list the code to program for the counties that interest you.

Then, you can choose a display, an alarm or an audible signal. I put it on display figuring I can change it to audible when I know bad weather is to be expected.