NWS Little Rock, AR - NOAA Weather Radio

General Recall Information

For information on weather radio receiver recalls, go to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) web site.

Purchasing a NOAA Weather Radio

NOAA Weather Radios are available at many department and electronic stores. For a listing of vendors, click here.

Text version

In the picture: Arkansas Federal Information Processing System (FIPS) codes for Arkansas. Click to enlarge.

Under a January 1975 White House policy statement, NOAA Weather Radio became the only Government-operated radio system designated to provide direct weather warnings to private homes.

One of the main reasons people do not know about Weather Radio is because it is not broadcast on FM and AM bands. Weather Radio is found on six main frequencies, including: 162.400, 162.450, 162.475, 162.500, 162.525 and 162.550 Megahertz. In order to get the broadcast, it is necessary to have a specialized receiver.

Weather Radio broadcasts originate at various National Weather Service offices nationwide. Each transmitter has a normal range of 35 to 40 miles, but with high quality receiver and antennas, the signal can be picked up at greater distances. .

Weather Radio provides more than severe weather warnings. Area forecasts, hourly weather reports, and summaries of past weather are just a few examples of what is available. This information is routinely updated. During adverse weather, along with forecasts and warnings, safety information is often broadcast.

When it becomes necessary to issue a severe weather warning, the National Weather Service will activate an alarm tone. Given an audible alert, you do not have to continuously monitor your radio when storms are coming. Since most Weather Radios are portable, you can take them camping, on vacations, or other trips.

Weather Radio Specific Area Message Encoders (SAME)

When severe storms are expected, you may not wish to get warning tones for all parts of the state. Weather Radio Specific Area Message Encoder (SAME) technology makes it possible to pick locations where tones are desired. Just program special codes (shown closer to the top of the page) for your county and surrounding counties, and you will be alerted when severe weather approaches. Look for radios with SAME technology in an electronics store near you!

Console Replacement System (CRS)

In the late 1990s, the Console Replacement System (CRS) introduced a computer generated voice to the weather radio audience. When National Weather Service text products were sent to CRS, the voice read the products to listeners automatically. With CRS, forecast and warning information reached listeners immediately, which was the main benefit of the system. Admittedly, the voice of CRS sounded a little different from the human voices heard in the past. The good news is that the computer voice quality vastly improved. In 2000, male ("Craig") and female ("Donna") voices hit the airwaves, and sounded lifelike. A couple of years later, "Craig" was replaced by "Tom", and the voices did not change for more than a decade. 

Broadcast Message Handler (BMH)

In 2016, CRS was replaced by the Broadcast Message Handler (BMH). While the functionality of BMH and CRS are similar, BMH is more robust and designed to accommodate changes more readily. BMH also requires less special-purpose hardware than CRS. While much of this is transparent to the public, there is something noticeable to point out. Text products read by the "Donna" and "Tom" voices of CRS are now presented by a "Paul" voice.   

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