Does anyone have any suggestions for a good NOAA weather radio? Our Dayton got zapped (beyond repair) by a lightning hit. For the moment I'm using a scanner from Radio Shack, but it has way too many buttons and gizmos to go wrong. Simple is good. The Dayton delivers on that point, but at nearly $500 for a plain vanilla radio, it seems quite over-priced. Rack mount would be nice, but not a deal breaker. There must be something that is fairly idiot proof in the $100-200 range.
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Weather Radio
- Thread starter Chuck
- Start date
Broadcast Supply lists a dayton less than $300.00 They are a great company that stands behind their products http://www.bswusa.com/searchresult.asp?searchType=keyword&searchValue=noaa weather radios
B
bilco
Guest
I've had great sucess with plain old fashion radio shack crystal controlled Weather radios, crystal controlled, left in the moniting position so the audio is always present. We defeat the speaker and route the audioto the EAS machine. In 13 years I've been at this station, I've only had to replace one and that was broken when dropped. Put it where nosy fingers will not turn on the alert and mute the aduio. The one on my desk has only 3 visible buttons plus a volume control. Set the channel, hit the weather button to listen, defeat the speaker and then forget about it and let it run.
Cheap Uniden or RS scanner. Done. If lightning blows it up or it craps out, another $99 solves the problem. So far though, haven't ever had to replace any of them in 16 years of use. Use the earphone jack or speaker jack to get the audio to the EAS.
If you look on eBay you can score one of the old Uniden or Regency crystal designs for under $25. They're bulletproof, and the WX band crystals are easy to come by.
If you look on eBay you can score one of the old Uniden or Regency crystal designs for under $25. They're bulletproof, and the WX band crystals are easy to come by.
I'd love to find a simple crystal controlled radio. Al the ones in stores these days seem way to complicated. The Dayton at BSW is a stripped down version of the one that got fried. I buy lots of stuff from BSW and you are right, they are great to deal with.
I'm sure the Dayton is fine, but it is almost $300. Considering you can buy a Midland at Walmart for $30 it is hard to justify the price other than it is idiot proof. The Midland or Radio Shack stuff isn't. Since the advent of S.A.M.E. weather radios tend to do some odd things if a warning is issued, and that isn't broadcast friendly. There must be something that is plain vanilla.
I'm sure the Dayton is fine, but it is almost $300. Considering you can buy a Midland at Walmart for $30 it is hard to justify the price other than it is idiot proof. The Midland or Radio Shack stuff isn't. Since the advent of S.A.M.E. weather radios tend to do some odd things if a warning is issued, and that isn't broadcast friendly. There must be something that is plain vanilla.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Regency-R806-8-Ch-Crystal-Scanner-Home-Mobile-/330551555818?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cf66876ea
This is about as plain vanilla as you can get. Stick the 162.xxx crystal in slot one, flip the switches to lockout all other (7 of them) channels. Or put WX crystals in all 8 slots so it can never be on the wrong channel. No problem with the SAME messages not getting through.
And he has 8 of them, I may even buy one myself.
This is about as plain vanilla as you can get. Stick the 162.xxx crystal in slot one, flip the switches to lockout all other (7 of them) channels. Or put WX crystals in all 8 slots so it can never be on the wrong channel. No problem with the SAME messages not getting through.
And he has 8 of them, I may even buy one myself.
I usually buy two of these...
http://www.uniden.com/products/productdetail.cfm?product=BC340CRS
One for NOAA and one for my LP1 (AM or FM). Only $90, not a bad price.
http://www.uniden.com/products/productdetail.cfm?product=BC340CRS
One for NOAA and one for my LP1 (AM or FM). Only $90, not a bad price.
$159 base price + $25 for the xtal. It's a kit.
http://www.hamtronics.com/r100.htm
http://www.hamtronics.com/r100.htm
The Radio Shack solution worked when I had a "we have no money" situation. The desktop radio was 20-30 bucks and a Bogen WMT1-A transformer attached to the radio's side was an additional twenty dollars. It fed the EAS and worked like a champ. As far as I know it is still feeding audio today.
A side story, the local EMA was very vocal about the weather radio having SAME capability. I explained that wasn't necessary since the EAS was a SAME encoder. It took a little more explain but finally caught on.
A side story, the local EMA was very vocal about the weather radio having SAME capability. I explained that wasn't necessary since the EAS was a SAME encoder. It took a little more explain but finally caught on.
K
kenglish
Guest
Have you checked out the NOAA WeatherRadio website?:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/nwrrcvr.htm
Also, it's possible to purchase a 162 MHz Yagi from Lindsay Antennas:
http://www.wade-antenna.com/Wade/eas.pdf
And, this distributor of Triax Preamps can tune one to 162 MHz:
http://www.simplicitytool.com/Old Sitco/preamplifier.htm
The last two are for anyone who is trying for a weak signal, like many stations in Utah (I checked out these after a meeting of Emergency Managers and EAS people).
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/nwrrcvr.htm
Also, it's possible to purchase a 162 MHz Yagi from Lindsay Antennas:
http://www.wade-antenna.com/Wade/eas.pdf
And, this distributor of Triax Preamps can tune one to 162 MHz:
http://www.simplicitytool.com/Old Sitco/preamplifier.htm
The last two are for anyone who is trying for a weak signal, like many stations in Utah (I checked out these after a meeting of Emergency Managers and EAS people).
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