Weather Radios

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

GForce89

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
1,526
Reaction score
120
Location
Enid
I need some help from the osa crowd with this. Me and my wife just bought our first home and we already know we are going to get some sort of shelter installed at our home. I was wanting to know what the best weather radio is to have in our home and 1 for the shelter as well. Thanks.
 

dennishoddy

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Dec 9, 2008
Messages
84,543
Reaction score
61,807
Location
Ponca City Ok
I have a midland, and there are not many other manufacturers.
Read the instructions, and you'll only get the alerts that pertain to you.
I've heard of folks that "say" they followed the instructions and still got state-wide alerts. Most fire departments offer a free programming, but I'm not sure that Ponca does.
 

GForce89

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
1,526
Reaction score
120
Location
Enid
I have a midland, and there are not many other manufacturers.
Read the instructions, and you'll only get the alerts that pertain to you.
I've heard of folks that "say" they followed the instructions and still got state-wide alerts. Most fire departments offer a free programming, but I'm not sure that Ponca does.

Thanks. Even if they don't my dad has been a fireman there for 30 years so i am sure i could still get it for free. Lol. Keep em coming guys i need all the help i can get.
 

white92coupe

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
May 28, 2007
Messages
1,548
Reaction score
332
Location
NE OK
I use my Garmin Rino 130 and my rino 655t. I Like the fact I can take it with me to different rooms. Both will switch from GMRS radio to NOAA weather radio when watches/warnings are in affect.

Might be a good option if go hunt/camp/hike a lot.
 

p238shooter

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Aug 16, 2012
Messages
3,680
Reaction score
2,877
Location
East of Tulsa
The WX radios are great if you want to filter information so that you only hear if there is an alert for your area. If you would like more detail of what is going on, I would suggest you get a general purpose scanner (some of them might do the WX feature you are talking about also) but you also can monitor many police, fire, red cross, frequencies. and most importantly ham radio which in most areas do the majority of the live weather spotting and reporting that is used for emergency management, National Weather Service, and the tv and radio stations. If you will google for a ham radio club in your area, you most likely can find someone that will be able to assist you with information for many options that you may not have considered.
 

acope

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Jan 3, 2008
Messages
179
Reaction score
128
Location
Yukon
Spend a few dollars ($80) and get this model of weather radio.

http://www.midlandradio.com/Desktops-Weather.OCS/WR-300

You will be able to select your S.A.M.E. code so you only get alerts for your area, just like most other radios...

BUT

You also can turn off those alerts that you don't want, except for Tornado Warning.

We had the cheaper model and it went off all the time, High Wind warning, T-Storm warning, blah, blah, blah. Got sick of hearing it all the time. Purchased the better model and turned those off. Now if it goes off, I "KNOW" that it is something important.

Hope this helps.

Allen
 

oneof79

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Feb 2, 2008
Messages
1,435
Reaction score
0
Location
Moore
There is an app for you iphone, if you have one. It will alert you to all of the warnings, high wind, fire, snow, ice, thunderstorms and tornados. You can turn off all of the warnings except the tornado warnings, I think. It will show radar and where the storm is and which direction it is coming from. To me it is better than listening to the mostly overreacting news crews.
 

Old Timer

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Aug 13, 2012
Messages
512
Reaction score
2
Location
Shawnee-- - OKC area
Look for one with the SAME codes in it.
If you do not program it, it will go off with anything and everything. If you program it with your county code, and if you are close to another county, add it also, then you can get just the stuff for your area. They also test it every Wednesday. They are not really hard to program, but do take some knowledge of how the system works. Some stores will have Ham radio operators come in and program radios for people when they buy them.
I have programed a bunch of the $39 Midland radios, and they work well.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom