NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards
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NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is a network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Service (NWS) office. It is operated by the NWS, an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the United States Department of Commerce. NWR broadcasts National Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts and other hazard information 24 hours a day. It also broadcasts alerts of non-weather emergencies such as national security, natural, environmental, and public safety (see: AMBER Alert) through the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Emergency Alert System.
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[edit] Operations
Known as the Voice of NOAA's National Weather Service, NWR is provided as a public service by the NOAA. NWR includes more than 940 transmitters [1], covering all 50 states, adjacent coastal waters, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Pacific Territories. NWR requires a special radio receiver or scanner capable of picking up the signal.
The radio service, available over much of North America, transmits weather warnings and forecasts 24 hours a day. In addition to weather information, NWR works in cooperation with the FCC Emergency Alert System, providing comprehensive weather and emergency information. In conjunction with federal, state, and local emergency managers and other public officials, NWR also broadcasts warning and post-event information for all types of hazards, including natural (such as earthquakes or avalanches), environmental (such as chemical releases or oil spills), and public safety (such as AMBER alerts or 911 Telephone outages).
Many television stations, which broadcast in stereo and have the capability (both commercial and public), will also air their local feed of Weatheradio on their second audio program channel if they aren't carrying a program which features either a Spanish language translation or a Descriptive Video Service track for the visually impaired. Some digital subchannels which carry weather information may also have Weatheradio airing in the background.
Hundreds of stations are operated in the United States (where it is more commonly called NOAA Weather Radio, or NWR) by the National Weather Service of NOAA, and in Canada by the Meteorological Service of Canada, under Environment Canada (where it is called Weatheradio Canada). Each radio station is programmed from a local or regional NWS or MSC office. One station is also available in Bermuda, operated by the Bermuda Weather Service.
Most stations broadcast on a special VHF frequency band at 162 MHz, which has seven narrowband FM channels. The original frequency was 162.550, with 162.400 and 162.475 being added later. In recent years, the proliferation of stations meant to make sure everyone has access to warnings has pushed that number to seven, now including the "intermediate" channels of 162.425, 162.450, 162.500, and 162.525 MHz. These channels (often numbered in that order) are receivable on special weather radio receivers, available across both countries by mail-order and at some retailers, on most marine VHF radio transceivers, and on scanners. In addition, many consumer electronics, such as two-way radios, are now being sold with the ability to receive weather radio broadcasts. Some stations in Canada also broadcast on regular FM and AM broadcast frequencies.
When a weather warning is issued for the area which a station covers, certain weather radios are designed to turn on or sound an alarm upon detection of a 1050 Hz tone, issued for ten seconds immediately before the warning message. Newer radios can instead detect a digital-over-audio protocol called Specific Area Message Encoding or SAME, which allows the radio to limit alarms to only certain warnings, and only to the actual section of the broadcast area which the listener is located. (This system was later adopted by the Emergency Alert System—the replacement for the earlier Emergency Broadcast System and even earlier CONELRAD) now required by the FCC for broadcast stations.) In Canada, stations will officially be implementing SAME in November 2006. Many Canadian stations also used to operate Weathercopy, which was a data stream that transmitted entire text forecasts and warnings, but was not designed for alerting. This system was decommissioned in 2003 because of new technologies such as the internet and satellite. NOAA Weather Radio has a special day and time to test the Public Warning Alarm or Emergency Alert System. The NOAA Weather Radio conducts a weekly warning/watch tone alert test every Wednesday Morning between 10:00am and 12:00pm noon, or 11:00am and 12:00pm noon. If there is a threat of severe weather that day in your NOAA Weather Radio listening area, the test will be postponed until the next available good weather day. The weekly test will replace regular NOAA Weather Radio programming.
[edit] Voices
Until 1997-98, the bulk of programming in the U.S. was in regular human voice rather than digital, with a forecaster recording each message once and a system having it repeat in a loop. The NWS has now installed a console replacement system (CRS) & Voice Improvement Plan (VIP) which uses a synthesized voice to read text announcements. The voice software was upgraded in 2002 to introduce more human sounding voices, one male ("Craig") and one female ("Donna"). Additional upgrades in 2003 produced a better male voice ("Tom") but made "Donna" sound less natural and choppy. Most NWS Offices have the male voice read some products and the female voice read others, and some WFOs has Tom or Donna read the entire broadcast cycle. The new system also allows intonation so that the tone of voice changes with the urgency of the message being read. Craig, Tom and Donna supplanted a more primitive male voice called "NOAA's Perfect Paul" from DECTalk System & TripleTalk which had been nicknamed "Igor", "Sven", and "Arnold", among others, for its mechanically awkward pronunciation and intonation (another voice, "Huge Harry," was also used), which broadcast all products from 1997-2002. "Paul" and "Harry" can still occasionally be heard on some stations, for example giving The Current Time every 10 Minutes.
Human voices are usually heard during severe weather to monitor a particular storm or event, and when the CRS is down because of technical difficulties or maintenance.
Two forecast offices in the continental United States presently broadcasts weather in Spanish: the San Diego forecast office and the El Paso forecast office.
In Canada, all broadcasts are bilingual English and French and are automated using sampled speech.
Sometimes the Computer Generated Voice says NOAA like "North,O,AA". Also the voice says the NOAA Weather Radio Internet Website like this "West,West,West.(WWW.)East or South,RH.(erh.)or(srh.) North,)O,AA.gov." (NOAA.gov). www.erh.noaa.gov and www.srh.noaa.gov.
