Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Weather Radio

I bought a Midland WR 100 Weather Radio (only $30 at Kroger). I've always wanted one but had the impression you got every county in the state, not just your own. This radio was easy to program. You can set it for up to eight counties, but I set mine so I only get weather alerts for Genesee County. This radio has a battery back-up so it would be great for camping (not that I do that any more!).

According to the manual the National Weather Service sends out a weekly test message every Wed. It's text only (and the yellow light comes on) so I missed it. I guess I'll find out if the audio alert works when the next thunderstorm hits!

UPDATE: July 27.
We had a severe thunderstorm warning tonight and the alert never sounded on my weather radio! I double-checked the programming, took out the batteries and re-programmed it, and had a friend (who is familiar with weather radios) double-check it for me. Neither of us could find anything wrong. It works fine if you want to listen to a weather report any time, but doesn't give alerts, even when it's set to give alerts for all counties, not just Genesee. I'm going to return it and get my money back! If I do get another weather radio, it won't be this model and if I can find a different brand, I will buy it instead.

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