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Author Topic: It’s Time to Put NOAA Weather Radio in Cars? RW rip... (THANKS Boomer!)  (Read 1733 times)

Offline ThaDood

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https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/readers-forum/letter-its-time-to-put-noaa-weather-radio-in-cars    Well, I certainly use NOAA WX Radio, like in the case of this.  https://archive.org/details/yepoormanseasrev2.1/Ye%20Poor%20Man%27s%20EAS%2C%20Diagram%2C%20rev%202.1%2C%203-8-2020/
Still going, 5 years later. But NOAA Weather Radio??? Our tax $$$$$$ are paying for it, so we might as well use it. Apparently, the USA & Canada are the only countries to have it. WX Radio in vehicles? Sure... Using the FM BC RX'ing antenna will work for 162MHz RX'ing, way better than putting WX FREQ in a CB and expecting 162MHz to pass through that 27MHz setup. (Yeah... I've proven that not to work, so WTF were they thinking there?) Newer 'lil bubble-pack GMRS / FRS radios now have NOAA in them, but how effective is a 3" antenna on 162MHz, where 1/4-wave is like 17" for there. Now, the WX feature in 2M rigs and the C. Crane Radios, make a hell of a lot more sense to me. But vehicles??? We pay for NOAA Weather Radio to begin with, so let's have it in vehicles as well. My $0.02 worth here.
“I am often asked how radio works. Well, you see, wire telegraphy
is like a very long cat. You yank his tail in New York and he
meows in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? Now, radio is
exactly the same, except that there is no cat.”
-Attributed to Albert Einstein, but I ripped it from the latest Splatter .PDF March 2025 issue.

Offline NQC

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Hey Thadood,

Interesting idea .

As for "less than ideal " antennas - I suppose they are better than nothing and would depend on how far you are from the Transmitter.

Almost no one uses CB's anymore . I never had one with NWR built in , so I can't vouch for how well they worked - that was a function that probably came out a LONG time after I dumped my CB.

But obviously there is a second NWR receiver board in the CB, so not sure if the boards themselves stunk or if it was ( again) using the "wrong" antenna.

If I HAD  to make the mistake though, I'd rather use a CB antenna for NWR receive , rather than an NWR antenna for CB receive  :) .

FWIW I rarely listen to NWR now, I have too many other sources and would only use it in a dire /power out situation.



 


NQC
« Last Edit: July 30, 2025, 0317 UTC by NQC »
Station main receiver : Bed springs to  blue razor blade detector to 2000 ohm cans to steam  radiator. Grid FN 42

 

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