About NOAA, NWS, & S.A.M.E. County Codes
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Typical broadcasts are within reception distance of 25-50 miles of the
weather station. Your MD319 weather radio can receive broadcasts from
up to 50 miles from the weather station, depending on your location and
conditions of weather, terrain, etc. If you find reception is not good in your
area, try different locations in your home or office to find a spot of improved
reception. Placement near a window usually improves reception.
If a weather broadcast cannot be heard on any of the 7 channels, contact
your local NWS office and verify the closest station is on air. Also verify the
channel frequencies the station is broadcasting.
If your NWS is transmit-
ting and you are not receiving the broadcasts, you may need an
external antenna.
Please note: Metal structures are more difficult to receive reception
in, because metal interferes with the signal. If you live in a metal
structure, you may need an external antenna.
In 1994, NOAA began broadcasting coded emergency signals that identify
the specific geographic area (such as the county within a state) that is
affected by an emergency. Until that time, such specific emergency weath-
er information was not available directly to the public. NOAA transmits the
coded emergency signals using a technique called Specific Area Message
Encoding (S.A.M.E.) The MD319 weather radio is designed to receive
these S.A.M.E. county code transmissions.
The National Weather service divides the United States by state and
county (or parish) and assigns a six digit code number called a FIPS
(Federal Information Processing System) code, also known as a S.A.M.E.
county code.
You can program the weather radio with up to 23 S.A.M.E. county codes.
The weather radio allows you to receive broadcast alerts for all counties
within your area, or for up to 23 individual selectable counties. This will
eliminate any alerts that are not within your area of interest.
