I just bought a weather radio but why is there only static?

Question

It's a NOAA weather/FM radio. I read all the directions. On my frequency (for my area) there is only static. Is this because it's a beautiful day out and there's no weather advisories? How can I be sure? I set it to "Alert" but I don't want to wait until there's a tornado to see if it's working properly. FM works fine but only gets a couple of stations.

Answer 1

I believe there are 7 frequencies currently being used by the National Weather Service. There are many models of weather radios and it would help if I knew which one you have. But, you mentioned it is a "alert" type which means any station you receive is a National Weather Service (NWS) broadcast unless you happen to be near the Mexican border where the frequencies used in Mexico are often in the vicinity of the NWS frequencies. Also depending on the model and type of radio, your receiver may also pick up commercial radio telephone traffic, pagers, or even some railroad and barge traffic are very close to the NWS frequencies as well.

If you are unsure, contact your nearest NWS office and ask for a little help. Nearly all of the offices can tell you which frequency to set it on and each Wednesday  the alert feature is tested between 11am and Noon unless there is bad weather or storms in the area. Each station is a 24 hour continuous broadcast of weather information so you should be receiving something other than static if you are within range of a transmitter. Over 90 percent of the U.S. Population is and more transmitters are being put up every year.  The bad news (in my opinion) is the voice is a synthetic computer-to-voice and some words are difficult to understand.

Answer 2

No, there should be a continuous broadcast cycle going over the air.  Are you sure it is set to the proper frequency?  The signal may be blocked if the receiver is located deep inside a building or is surrounded by other buildings.  You could call the National Weather Service office in your area (where the transmission originates), or a local school or police department.  They should have one and can check to see if a signal is broadcasting.  If not, then maybe the transmitter is down by chance.

Answer 3

I had the same problem when I first bought mine 6 years ago. It turns out that the station transmitter was down for 5 days so it wasn't working. But then after they fixed it, it worked. Make sure it's on the right channel. For mine, it was Channel 7. Make sure the antenna is fully extended. If it's a wire you have to hold it out. Also mine only picks up a broadcast no more than 65km (40 mi.) from the station's transmitter. Here's a link for a list of stations and you find which one's yours:

http://www.weather.gov/nwr/listcov.htm