Lawrence "The Dreamer" Chen's Blog

Some time ago, I noticed that I wasn't getting weather alerts from my weather radio in the living room. It was annoying, but I could still hear the one by the bedroom. But, that one was getting touchy/scratchy as well.

But, then with the recent bad weather, especially the tornado...which fortunately hit while I was out of town and missed me. 'cause I'm not sure what I would do if I were home. I should try to remember to ask if there's some place near by that I can go seek shelter for tornadoes.

Since all the weather radios that I've had have been all the same brand.... Oregon Scientific. And, I've had a few over the years stop working....I've contacted them on it, but they said because I've had it over a year and they had discontinued it...I was SOL.

So, I been meaning to replace them with ones made by another manufacturer...but as long as they are still working....

Well, last night another killer thunderstorm...and neither weather radio made any noise. I decided that maybe it was time to see what's up. Though just as I was about to order....the living room one started to do a Flash Flood alert but cut out mid-alert.

I knew that ambient RF noise in my living room was pretty high, I haven't determined if its the stuff in the room or something external....I suspect its both. Since some of the noisier parts aren't near any of my electronics. Though it there's enough stuff that there might just be lobes and stuff.

I decided to try find another place in the living room for my weather radio to see if that would make a difference. I couldn't find any spot that was near an outlet and a flat surface to set it down on that would work. As I was about to conclude that it just wasn't as sensitive at it used to be, etc. I remembered reading somewhere that the area is covered by 3 different overlapping NOAA stations....and no one station specifically associated with the area.

So, I tried checking the other channels....because maybe the coverage pattern off the stations has changed.

Well, I found that one of the other channels was stronger....enough that I got a full flash-flood alert (though those are the ones I don't really care for....I'm not in a flash flood area, and waking me up through the night just annoys me even more. Wish there was some further selectivity. I seem to think that newer units do have this capability...so perhaps I'll check some other day).

It is still kind of scratchy....and other receivers don't get the channel at all (or not any better than the other.) So, maybe there's just no good weather alert radio coverage for here.

Meanwhile...I just got an email from Ginger People that bulk sizes are available [again] finally. But, no email from Thinkgeek on the [new] item that I've been waiting for, but want to use my coupon that expires on June 30th.....