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Beyond the Basics
listening to the weather band
The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has
allocated channels for use by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Regulatory agencies in
other countries have also allocated channels for use by their
weather reporting authorities.
NOAA and your local weather reporting authority broadcast
your local forecast and regional weather information on one
or more of these channels.
1. To hear your local forecast and regional weather
information, press WX. Your scanner scans through the
weather band, and then stops on the fi rst active weather
frequency.
2. Repeatedly press WX to fi nd the strongest weather
frequency for your location.
3. If necessary, press ATT to attenuate a weather channel if it
is receiving interference.
same standby mode
The National Weather Service precedes each weather alert
with a digitally encoded SAME (Specifi c Area Message
Encoding) signal. Then, a 1050 Hz tone. The SAME signal
includes a FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard)
area code, and an event code that corresponds with the
type of alert being sent. You can confi gure your scanner
to operate in SAME Standby mode, where it monitors a
selected weather radio station for SAME alerts for areas you
specify. You can program your scanner with up to 10 FIPS
codes for the areas you desire. The National Weather Service
maintains a current list of FIPS codes at http://www.nws.
noaa.gov/nwr/.
1. Repeatedly press WX until you identify the weather station