NOAA Weather Radio

The national Weather Radio alert system is one of the primary delivery mechanisms for natural disaster and homeland security alerts (it is also used in some areas for AMBER alerts).

The seven radio frequencies used for Weather Radio normally broadcast a computer-generated voice with recently updated local weather reports. But in the event of an emergency, a special digital alert code is broadcast that will cause weather radios to activate

Less-sophisticated radios that receive the weather band (such the AM/FM/TV/Wx CCRadio from C. Crane Co.) will simply turn on, sound an alarm, or do both when such a signal is received, leaving you to listen to the frequency to determine the nature of the alert.

But three other types of signals can be broadcast—a SAME code, an EAS Event Code, and a 1050 Hz alarm tone (which you remember from the old EBS system).

More sophisticated weather radios can be programmed to activate only for alerts that affect the county or counties specified by the SAME code, and/or the type of EAS Event Code. The 1050 Hz warning tone is used in addition to these codes, but only for the most imminent life- and property-threatening hazards, where the public has to take immediate action to protect themselves and their property. An operational guideline is that messages are alerted only for hazards urgent enough to warrant waking people up in the “middle of the night” or otherwise interrupting someone’s activities at any time.

The radio receivers listed here have varying capabilities. Some can be hooked up to PA systems or configured to trigger switches that will do something else (such as flashing lights, for example).

The National Weather Service maintains a list of Weather Alert radios designed for residential and industrial/commercial use.

Business users should consider a weather radio that has some or all these features:

External antenna jack

Needed if the receiver will be located in a structure that limits radio reception.

Alarm jack

Used to activate a louder external alarm or to trigger a building’s alarm, PA, or pager system.

Audio-out jack

To send the alert message over a PA or radio system.

SAME area-coding

SAME allows the radio to activate only for alerts that affect the specified county. Some radios allow only one county code to be monitored, while others allow 10 or 20—multiple county codes are clearly preferable in the 9-county Bay Area.

Event filters

Each broadcast includes a three-letter code that identifies the type and severity of alert. The ability to configure the unit to sound an alarm only for certain types of emergencies makes the alert system more useful, since there will only be a few types of alerts that a San Francisco office should worry about.

Local Weather Radio Transmitters

Location	Frequency	Call Sign	Watts	Channel #
SF Bay Area	162.400	KHB-49	330	WX2
South SF Bay	162.55	KEC-49	100	WX1
East Bay	162.425	KZZ-75	100	WX4
North SF Bay	162.500	KDX-54	75	WX6

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NOAA Weather Radio Frequencies

Frequency	Channel #
162.400 MHz	WX2
162.425 MHz	WX4
162.450 MHz	WX5
162.475 MHz	WX3
162.500 MHz	WX6
162.525 MHz	WX7
162.550 MHz	WX1

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Bay Area S.A.M.E. Codes

County	Code
Alameda	006001
Napa	006055
San Francisco	006075
San Mateo	006081
Santa Clara	006085