EAS/SAME enabled Weather Radios
Recently, I was wondering just how the EAS (Emergency Alert System) worked from a technical standpoint. I was wondering if there would be a way to build a device would listen for these EAS messages. As it turns out, many consumer "Weather Radios" already have this functionality built-in.
Obviously, Wikipedia was a wonderful resource on the subject. While reading, I learned about Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME).
Reading the Wikipedia articles, you'll see a mention that a SAME Weather Radio should be considered as essential as having a smoke detector or a carbon monoxide detector. There's really no reason to argue otherwise. If there's a toxic spill near your area, a boil order, or an Amber alert (to name a few, there are 76 reasons including various weather conditions) you'll be made aware of it. TV and Radio may offer this, but if you're someone who watches DVDs or material in your DVR, you won't be aware of any condition.
Some consumer level weather radios are just that, they have a feature that lets you somehow tune to NOAA Weather Radio which resides somewhere between 162.4 and 162.525 MHz (there are actually seven possible frequencies in that range). I'd recommend looking for a Weather Radio with SAME. Most of these radios will have functionality to sound a tone or illuminate a display in such a way that you'll notice a message has been sent.
I actually picked up a Midland WR300 (pictured)
I found it at Fry's Electronics for $50, well below the $80 suggested retail price. Circuit City's selection wasn't all that bad, though they didn't have any SAME compliant devices. Best Buy didn't have anything like this.
I thought the obvious drawbacks would be being plagued with annoyance "alerts" - I've had the device about six weeks now and I've only had three alerts. Two were Amber Alerts, and one was a required monthly test of the Emergency Alert System. I even have the alert volume set in such a way that it won't wake me up, though under normal operations - you'll probably want to make sure it does.
Generally, if you hear an alert, you can activate the Weather Radio frequency to listen to the voice portion of the alert. If you miss an alert, an LED and/or message on the LCD will remain. Optionally, you can set the radio to tune to the voice message automatically. There are many settings to customize how you want this to work.
On the back of the radio, there's a 1/4" plug for some sort of data connection. I contacted Midland to see what I could do with this, they implied it was more or less for saving settings, a feature that's likely more used in their professional mobile radios. There's also an "aux" connection that you can likely get to trigger a relay to a light or some other visual indicator. Midland sells a device they make themselves for this feature also.
In addition, the radio also incorporates an AM/FM tuner (with convenient push-button presets). The device is normally powered by an A.C. adaptor, but is backed up with batteries for operation during a power outage. This is a final touch for being an around-the-house essential.
As an alternative, The Emergency Email & Wireless Network offers to send messages to your E-mail, Pager, or Cell Phone with the same information. However, it's sponsored by E-mail advertising, so be sure to weigh this if you sign up. They allow you to opt-out of these ads, but dropping $50 for a receiver at your home may be a more attractive option.
Some day, myself or someone may try to come up with a clever way to "hack" this WR300 device to do these kinds of notifications for you. I think it's very possible, I just doubt there's much incentive for doing something like this right now.
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