NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards
NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) is a nationwide network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information directly from the nearest National Weather Service office. NWR broadcasts official Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts and other hazard information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Working with the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) Emergency Alert System , NWR is an "All Hazards" radio network, making it your single source for comprehensive weather and emergency information. In conjunction with Federal, State, and Local Emergency Managers and other public officials, NWR also broadcasts warning and post-event information for all types of hazards – including natural (such as earthquakes or avalanches), environmental (such as chemical releases or oil spills), and public safety (such as AMBER alerts or 911 Telephone outages).
Known as the "Voice of NOAA's National Weather Service," NWR is provided as a public service by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), part of the Department of Commerce. NWR includes 1000 transmitters, covering all 50 states, adjacent coastal waters, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Pacific Territories. NWR requires a special radio receiver or scanner capable of picking up the signal. Broadcasts are found in the VHF public service band at these seven frequencies (MHz):
 
162.400
162.425
162.450
162.475
162.500
162.525
162.550
SAME
NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) can alert you for emergencies anywhere within the coverage area of the NWR transmitter, typically several counties, even though the emergency could be well away from the listener. Weather receiver with Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) will alert only on weather and other emergencies for the county(s)/ area(s) programmed.
 
  • When an NWS office broadcasts a warning, watch or non-weather emergency, it also broadcasts a digital SAME code that may be heard as a very brief static burst, depending on the characteristics of the receiver. This SAME code contains the type of message, county(s) affected, and message expiration time.
  • A programmed NWR SAME receiver will turn on for that message, with the listener hearing the 1050 Hz warning alarm tone as an attention signal, followed by the broadcast message.
  • At the end of the broadcast message, listeners will hear a brief digital end-of-message static burst followed by a resumption of the NWR broadcast cycle.

The following messages are always alerted on a NWR Transmitter if they apply to any part of its coverage area:

MESSAGE EVENT: CODE

  • Tornado Warning: TOR
  • Severe Thunderstorm Warning: SVR
  • Flash Flood Warning: FFW
  • Tornado Watch: TOA
  • Severe Thunderstorm: Watch SVA
  • Hurricane Watch: HUA
  • Hurricane Warning: HUW
  • National Emergency: EAN 2.

The following messages are sometimes alerted if they apply to the coverage area of the transmitter, depending on the circumstances and the area of the country. Check with the National Weather Service programming office of the NWR transmitter:

MESSAGE EVENT: CODE

  • Flash Flood Watch: FFA
  • Winter Storm Warning: WSW
  • High Wind Warning: HWW
  • Tsunami Watch: TSA
  • Tsunami Warning: TSW
  • River Flood Watch: FLA
  • River Flood Warning: FLW
  • Special Marine Warnings: --none--
  • Local non-weather emergencies: CEM
SPECIAL MARINE WARNING BROADCASTS
MARINE
ZONE ID
DESCRIPTION
SAME#
TRANSMITTER
FREQ
CALL
WATTS
AMZ300
Synopsis for South Santee River SC to Savannah GA out 20 NM and Savannah GA to Altamaha Sound GA out 60 NM including Charleston Harbor and Grays Reef National Marine Sanctuary
075300
Charleston SC
162.550
KHB29
1000
NWR STATIONS SERVING THE LOW COUNTRY & SAME CODES
Last Modified: 02-Mar-2010© Berkeley County, SC ARES®
ARES® is a registered Service Mark of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), Inc
   
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