a good weather radio

2oldman wrote:
So a weather radio will work with no signals of any kind?

Mostly? They pick up radio wave signals from the various NWS stations. That being said, my very good quality Midland weather radio quit picking up a signal because our house sits low on a lake; and not that the surrounding hills are dotted with cell towers, it's like the NWS signal is blocked :-(

For the most part, a battery-operated weather radio will always work. Personally, I like the ones with a volume control for the alert signal, because they can be loud enough to raise the dead inside an RV!

Same as BarabooBob above but I also program the codes for the surrounding counties next to the one we are camping in. You never know how the storm will track and I like a little heads up.

I have a Midland WR100 that we carry with us. It has the SAME system which we program for the county that we are in. We print out the SAME county codes by state before we leave. If that radio does not work (sometimes it does not) we have FRS radios with weather bands. I also have a marine radio that I carry on my boat wih weather. These are over the air receivers, no internet required.

garmp wrote:
Just returned from a trip to Oklahoma and while on the trip I broke out our old crank style weather radio/flashlight. Cranked my bloody arm off and barely got static. Long story short am in the market for a new one.
A complication to the issue is that we were in a dead zone. No cell service nor wifi at all. No radio or tv, nothing, just wind.
So with all this in mind I really doubt that a cell phone app would work. What is out there that is effective, but reasonable price wise, and doesn't rely on cell signal nor wifi or 110?
thanks

Chances are good if you are not within OTA TV/radio stations you WILL be out of range for the NOAA Weather station frequencies.

Retry your weather radio at home..

NOAA weather radio systems are low power transmitters at 1Kw or less, they often depend on agreements with existing tower owners like TV and radio stations to place their transmitter and antennas.

1 KW in VHF on a good day and depending on the terrain may get you about 50-60 mile area of coverage around the transmitter antenna.

I would recommend you review what transmitters are available, you can find that info at https://www.weather.gov/nwr/station_listing before condemning your radio.

So a weather radio will work with no signals of any kind?

Plenty of battery powered weather radios are out there that have weather band coverage. Some CB and FMS/GMRS radios have weather band receivers built-in, as well.

It may well be that you were not in an area covered by the weather radio transmitters, or not covered too well. A better radio could be more sensitive and better able to get marginal signals, but some places you just don't have service. You can find coverage maps here.