Aweather radio is a specialized radio receiver that is designed to receive a public broadcast service, typically from government-ownedradio stations, dedicated to broadcastingweather forecasts and reports on a continual basis, with the routine weather reports being interrupted by emergency weather reports whenever needed. Weather radios are typically equipped with a standby alerting function—if the radio is muted or tuned to another band and a severe weatherbulletin is transmitted, it can automatically sound an alarm and/or switch to a pre-tuned weather channel for emergency weather information. Weather radio services may also occasionally broadcast non-weather-related emergency information, such as in the event of anatural disaster, achild abduction alert, or aterrorist attack.
They generally broadcast in a pre-allocatedvery high frequency (VHF) range usingFM. Usually aradio scanner or a dedicated weatherradio receiver is needed for listening, although in some locations a weather radio broadcast may be re-transmitted on anAM orFM broadcast station, onterrestrialtelevision stations, or localpublic, educational, and government access (PEG)cable TVchannels or during weather or other emergencies.
Weather radios are generally sold in two varieties: home (stationary) or portable use. Portable models commonly offer specialized features that make them more useful in case of an emergency. Some models usecrank power, in addition tomains electricity andbatteries, in case of apower outage.
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Smaller hand-held weather receivers generally do not support theSpecific Area Message Encoding (SAME) alert type encoding (though there are some that do) but allow hikers and other explorers to listen to weather reports without packing a heavy and bulky base station radio. Some models have a built-inflashlight and can double as acellphone charger. Some also serve as a more generalemergency radio and may include multiband andtwo-way communication capability."Scanner" radios designed to continuously monitor the VHF-FM public service band are already able to receive weather channels.
Besides SAME alerting capability, modern weather radio receivers, especially those that are compliant withCTA standard 2009-B, may include visual alerting elements (e.g., multicolored LED indicator lights) and allow for the use of external devices (e.g., pillowvibrators, bed shakers,strobe lights, and loudsirens, which attach via an accessory port) to alert those who are deaf orhearing impaired.
Both private and commercial seagoing vessels need accurate weather reports, in order to avoid storms that might damage or capsize the vessel, or make paying passengers uncomfortable. One such service isNavtex, which is a low-frequencyfacsimile radio service.
| Frequency | WX channel[1] | Marine channel | Radio preset |
|---|---|---|---|
| 162.400 MHz | WX2 | 36B | 1 |
| 162.425 MHz | WX4 | 96B | 2 |
| 162.450 MHz | WX5 | 37B | 3 |
| 162.475 MHz | WX3 | 97B | 4 |
| 162.500 MHz | WX6 | 38B | 5 |
| 162.525 MHz | WX7 | 98B | 6 |
| 162.550 MHz | WX1 | 39B | 7 |
| 161.650 MHz | WX# | 21B | blank |
| 161.750 MHz | WX# | 23B | blank |
| 161.775 MHz | WX# | 83B | blank |
| 162.000 MHz | WX# | 28B | ASM 2 |
| 163.275 MHz | WX# | 113B | blank |
TheNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,Environment Canada, theMexican Seismic Alert System and theBermuda Weather Service operate their government weatherradio stations on the samemarine VHF radioband, usingFM transmitters, and the same seven frequencies (162.400-162.550 MHz) asNOAA Weather Radio (NWR).[2][3] Bermuda only uses 162.550 (land) and 162.400 (marine).[4][5] NWR transmitters operate VHF-FM between 5–1,000 watts. NWR channels operating in the range of 162.3625-162.5875 MHz (WX1-WX7) have a band spacing of 25 kHz and may have bandwidths up to 16 kHz.[6] The original "weather" frequency was 162.550 MHz, with 163.275 MHz initially recommended as a backup and later dropped due to interference problems with other federal agencies.
NOAA Weather Radio,Weatheradio Canada andSARMEX all refer to the seven stations by their frequencies:
162.400, 162.425, 162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525 and 162.550 MHz.[7][8][2][3]
Other channel designations such as WX1 through WX7 "have no special significance but are often designated this way in consumer equipment" and "other channel numbering schemes are also prevalent/possible" according to NOAA andUSCG.[9][1] Ordering channels by when they were established (WX1, WX2…) is "becoming less 'popular' over time than a numerical ordering of channels."[1] Weather radios may list stations in the order of their WX#, or by a "Preset Channel" number 1 through 7 in ascending frequency order.[10][11][12]
The "WX#" format is continued from WX8 up to WX12 on some lists and radios to include 163.275 MHz and or one or more of the Canadiancontinuous marine broadcast (CMB) frequencies 161.650, 161.750, 161.775, 162.000. Unlike WX1-WX7 typically ordered by frequency adoption by NWS, there is no consistent frequency inclusion nor assignment for WX8-WX12.[13][14][15] Effective January 1, 2019, channels 2027 (161.950 MHz, 27B) and 2028 (162.000 MHz, 28B) are designated as ASM 1 and ASM 2 respectively for application specific messages (ASM) as described in Recommendation ITU-R M.2092.[16] 163.275 MHz was formerly used by the NWS for coordination during power outages[citation needed].
All stations in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda transmit a1,050 Hz attention tone immediately before issuing a watch or warning, (In Canada a 1050 Hz Tone is only used for aSevere Thunderstorm Warning,Tornado Warning and the Required Monthly Test)[17] and this is used as both an attention tone and as a way to activate many radios that do not have SAME technology.
All U.S. and Canadian stations transmitSAME codes a few seconds before the 1,050 Hz attention tone that allows more advanced receivers to respond only for certain warnings that carry a specific code for the local area. SAME codes are defined forcounties,parishes,territories,forecast regions, or marine zones, and are set using preassigned six-digitFIPS county codes (in the U.S.) orCanadian Location Codes (in Canada). The SAME code protocol also includes an end-of-message (EOM) tone which is made up of three short data bursts of the binary 10101011 calibration then "NNNN", which some radios will use to mute the speaker after the alert broadcast has been completed.[18][19]
NOAA Weather Radio (NWR; also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards) is an automated 24-hour network of more than 1,000radio stations[20] in theUnited States that broadcast weather information directly from a nearbyNational Weather Service office. A complete broadcast cycle is about 3 to 8 minutes long and consists of weather forecasts and local observations. Normal broadcast cycles are interrupted when severe weather advisories, warnings, or watches are issued. NOAA Weather Radio occasionally broadcasts other non-weather related events such asnational security statements, natural disaster information, environmental andpublic safety statements (such as anAmber alert) sourced from theFederal Communications Commission's (FCC)Emergency Alert System.
In Canada, Weatheradio Canada transmits in both official languages (English and French) from 234 sites across Canada. The Canadian broadcast cycle features the forecast for theforecast region where the transmitter is located, as well as any neighbouring forecast regions there may be. It also includes the current conditions for local cities, towns, airports or military bases and the air quality forecast is the last part of the cycle before it switches to the other language to repeat the cycle in either English or French. Weatheradio Canada does not currently broadcast any non-weather-related events, such as anAmber alert orFire warning, though these types of events are "for possible future implementation".[17]
Bermuda Radio (call-sign ZBR) is a weatherradio station inBermuda working under theGovernment of Bermuda.
Bermuda has only one station dedicated purely for weather, on 162.55 MHz fromHamilton, now operated by theBermuda Weather Service with tropical weather forecasts fromNOAA. It has a second station, however, for marine conditions and forecasts,ZBR (operated by theBermuda Maritime Operations Centre), at 162.4 MHz.[21][22]
Mexico has since launched its own weather radio system, SARMEX (Sistema De Alerta De Riesgos Mexicano, or Mexican Hazard Warning System) for coverage of its cities,[23] which also implements the Mexican Seismic Warning System. Some Mexican alert radios also support activation by a two-tone alert for another type of risk warning.[24]
In Germany, theDeutscher Wetterdienst broadcasts marine weather reports and weather warnings via longwave and shortwave transmissions.[25]
The weather radio band is part of themarine VHF radio band reserved for governmental services.[citation needed] However, most standard AM and FM broadcast radio stations provide some sort of private weather forecasting, either through relaying public-domainNational Weather Service forecasts, partnering with a meteorologist from a local television station (or using a meteorologist hired by the station, common when a radio station is a sister station of their TV counterpart or has a news and forecast-sharing agreement), affiliating with a commercial weather service company, or (in the most brazen cases)copying a commercial service's public forecasts without payment or permission. In Canada, the weather information issued byEnvironment Canada are protected undercrown copyright but it is possible to obtain a license to redistribute their weather information[26]
Accuweather (throughUnited Stations) andThe Weather Channel (throughWestwood One'sNBC Radio Network) both operate large national weather radio networks through standard AM and FM stations. Brookstone licensed Accuweather's data service for their popular 5 Day Wireless Weather Watcher Cast Forecaster.
Microsoft'sMSN Direct was a popular data service that included weather forecasting sent over US FM radio signals from 2004 to 2012. It was used by Microsoft Spot watches andOregon Scientific clocks.[27]
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