NOAA Weather Radios Weather Radio? Most Local Electronics Cino Arena 550 Stores Carry Nwrs, As Do a Variety of Sources Mendo- 162

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External antenna jack: While most receiv- Local Frequencies: Depending on where ers come with a whip antenna, Sonoma you are in Sonoma County, you should be able County’s hilly terrain can make reception to pick up one or more of the following fre- problematic in some areas. Some receivers quencies on your NWR: come with an external antenna jack that will allow you to connect to a larger antenna (indoors or outdoors). NWR broadcasts SAME NWR Call Area FQ Watts are in the Public Service VHF frequencies, # Trans. Sign just above FM radio and between TV chan- nels 6 and 7, so an antenna designed for VHF San 162. Sonoma 006097 KHB49 330 televisions or FM radios should work. Fran. 475

San 162. The NWS recommends receivers with a 0.5 Marin 006041 KHB49 330 to 1.0 microvolt sensitivity for 20 deci- Fran. 400 bels (dB) quieting, a selectivity of 45 to 70 162. dB down at +/- 25 kilohertz (kHz), tunable Marin 006041 Monterey KEC49 300 or switchable to all frequencies. 550 Seconds Count!

Mendo- Point 162. Where Can I Purchase a NOAA 006045 KIH30 1000 NOAA Weather Radios Weather Radio? Most local electronics cino Arena 550 stores carry NWRs, as do a variety of sources Mendo- 162. provide immediate 006045 Ukiah WNG720 300 on the Web. More information is available cino 525 through the Internet at the National Weath- emergency information. er Service’s NOAA Weather Radio Web Site: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr

All-Hazard Alerts, Warnings, Forecasts Healdsburg, 1906 Sonoma County Emergency and Preparedness Information

https://socoemergency.org/

Sonoma County Working with the FCC’s Department of Emergency Management 2300 County Center Dr., #220B Emergency Alert System, Rio Nido, Santa Rosa, CA 95403 a National Weather Radio is 2006 Phone: (707) 565-1152 your best single source for weather and emergency information.

Sonoma County is threatened by a mul- NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts National Choosing a NWR—Important Features: titude of potential disasters including Weather Service warnings, watches, fore- Prices can vary from $20 to $200, depending flooding, win- casts and other hazard information 24 on the model. You can buy portable handheld ter storms, hours a day, and is provided as a public models or desktop. Among the more useful earthquake, service by the Department of Commerce's features in a receiver are: wildland/urban National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin- fires, land- istration. The NOAA Weather Radio network Tone alarm: The National slides, hazard- has more than 425 stations in the 50 states Weather Service will send a ous materials and near adjacent coastal waters. tone alarm before most incidents, ‘warning’ and many ‘watch’ drought, A NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) provides in- messages are broadcast. Even freeze, dam stant access to the same weather reports if the radio is turned off, the failure, tsuna- 1969 Earthquake, Santa Rosa and emergency information that meteorolo- tone will activate, sounding mi, and terror- gists and emergency personnel use— the alert . ism as well as isolated events that could af- information that can save your life! fect the tourism, agricultural, dairy and Specific Alert Message Encod- fishing industries. In the last twenty years, We recommend purchasing an NWR ing (SAME) allows you to Sonoma County has experienced all of these equipped with a special alarm tone feature specify the particular area for events except for dam failure and tsunami. that will sound an alarm and give you imme- which you wish to receive diate information about alerts. Since most life-threatening situations. NWR transmitters are broadcast- The hearing- and visually ing for a number of counties, impaired also can get these SAME receivers will respond only warnings by connecting weather radios to to alerts issued for the area (or other kinds of attention-getting devices. areas) you have selected. This minimizes the number of “false During an emergency, National Weather Ser- alarms” for events which might vice forecasters interrupt routine weather be a few counties away . radio programming and send out the special tone that activates weather radios in the Selectable alerting of events: Some receiv- listening area. NOAA Weather Radio broad- January 2006, Rohnert Park ers also allow you to turn off the alarm for casts warning and post-event information events which might not be important for for all types of hazards—both natural (such you. For example, if you don’t live near the Seconds can Save Lives as earthquakes and technological (such as ocean or tidal valleys, you might not need to Having a NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) in your chemical releases or oil spills). be alerted to Coastal Flood Warnings. home can alert you instantly to many life- threatening situations. In combination with Working with other Federal agencies and the Battery backup: Because power outages emergency preparedness, timely alerts give Federal Communications Commission's new often occur during storms, battery backup is you a vital Emergency Alert System, NWR is an "all haz- crucial. However, unless you have a portable advantage in ards" radio network, making it the single unit which you will use away from other pow- any emergen- source for the most comprehensive weather er sources, an AC power connection is recom- cy. and emergency information. mended.

“NOAA Weather Radios should be as com- mon as Smoke Detectors in American Homes.”