NOAA all alert radio

There are seven frequencies, but you need a radio that can access those frequencies:

http://weatherradios.com/stations-and-frequencies

REI sells several weather radios, but I have never owned one.

There are 7 weather channels from the NOAA.  You can get one of them on the Olympic coast from Mount Octopus (whatever that is)

The C Crane CC Pocket radio gets them.  And has about the best AM/FM reception.  6 ounces including batteries.  I think you can set it so that it will audible alert if a warning is issued.  You can listen to the weather forecast.

The worst risk is a Cascadia Subduction Zone quake.  It will let you know about Tsunami warning because the ground will shake violently.  You have 15 minutes to get to high ground.

Ben and Jerry,

Thanks.  Now I understand.

“It will let you know about Tsunami warning because the ground will shake violently. You have 15 minutes to get to high ground.”

Scary.

You might consider a marine-band VHF.  There are 4 weather bands, one or two of which are usually useable in a particular area.  I use them for updated weather info, especially while in a boat, but it’s handy for hiking, too.  I don’t know if tsunami warnings are conveyed through them or not, but I’m sure radio traffic would be abuzz about it if one was issued.  4 minutes after that 7.8 earthquake we had two weeks ago, we all got tsunami alerts through our cell phones.

And if you want a boat to rescue you off of a beach, it’s the best thing to have.  You can ping most any boat you can see and some just over the horizon and in more populated areas, a distress signal can be passed on by Coast Guard radio repeaters.  And it’s two-way, so you can communicate what your problem is, instead of hitting a panic button without additional information.

You’re not supposed to use them on/from land, but in an emergency, I doubt anyone would object.

When I’m in a small craft, I ALWAYS have a life jacket on.  And my life jacket ALWAYS has my compact VHF radio secured to it (and some other goodies).

Daryl, if it’s a one-time use for a particular trip, I could loan you mine.

A NOAA alert radio is a radio what “wakes up” and displays specific alerts following the SAME system according to local county codes you have entered. You do not want to get twister alerts for Kansas if you live in Oregon, for example.

SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) is the protocol used to encode the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) in the U.S. and Weatheradio Canada in Canada.

Not all weather radios that receive NOAA frequencies support SAME. So if you want Tsunami and Earthquake alerts, you need to buy a radio that supports SAME. These radios do not cost much. Check Amazon.  FEMA recommends that each household have a NOAA radio that supports SAME,

David and Bruce,

Thanks for the added info.

Last time I tried using a cell phone in this wilderness beach area it wouldn’t work.

I’m looking to buy a radio as we hike here a couple times a year.  Mostly I want the 15 minute warning that Jerry mentioned so I can run for my life up the brush covered hill.

Found a link that gives me some more to chew on.

. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/info/nwrrcvr.html

The C Crane CC Pocket radio Jerry mentions above seems like a pretty nifty radio. He had one on our ONP hike, and I was pretty impressed with it. You can tune to all the SAME freqs used in Washington, so you’d seem to be good there.

This Midland weather radio is cheaper and is highly reviewed on Amazon (and Fakespot says that most of the reviews are ‘high quality’). It seems to turn on automatically when a weather alert in your area is sent out.

Doug,

Went with the Midland.  Couldn’t resist the $13 price.

Thanks,

Daryl