Emergency Weather Radios April 08, 2015, 09:47:59 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152120Hello everyone. We've been looking at getting an Emergency Weather Radio to keep bed side while camping, mostly boon docking. We're getting ready to go pick up our "new to us" 30' LD. It does have solar panels.With that info in mind, I have 2 questions;1) Will an electrical radio, one that plugs into the outlets, draw much power that it will seriously effect our boon docking?2) What type/brand of Emergency Radio do most of you use?3) Will the fact that we and the radio are in a big metal box actually affect the reception of the radio?Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated. We're looking forward to becoming a part of the Lazy Daze family!Thank you, Bud in Ohio
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #1 – April 08, 2015, 10:08:47 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152121http://www.amazon.com/Cobra-Weatherband-Reception-Batteries-Included/dp/B00BLQOGYI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1428545094&sr=8-1&keywords=cobra+cwr100I have this one. As an Amazon Associate Lazy Daze Owners' Group earns from qualifying purchases.
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #2 – April 08, 2015, 10:40:04 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152122If anyone in your travel group has a smart phone, there are free apps. that do what you want.We use one called Wx Alert USA.Ed
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #3 – April 08, 2015, 10:42:23 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152123Forgot to mention the obvious that you need cell phone reception.Ed
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #4 – April 08, 2015, 11:36:30 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152124Bud, I use a battery powered Cobra weather radio. I payed $6.00 new for 2 on meh.com and gave one away to a friend. Reception is usually good up to around 40 to 50 miles from a broadcast station. Regarding an A.C. powered unit you have to look at the amps or watts it draws to figure how it's affecting boondocking. Other factors like how efficient your inverter is come into play. A 12VDC powered unit would mean you don't have to run inverter to use it. In other words probably less impact to your boon docking ability.As a frequent boondocker I have 4 Solar Panels (as much as will fit on my 23.5) and 2 Trojan T-145 batteries. This has been sufficient for most boondocking. I rarely have to run generator, mostly just to exercise it. If you watch TV I would recommend one capable of running on 12VDC. Anything you can do to minimize inverter usage will help as most are not that efficient. Big $$$ for the ones that are.Bob 01 23.5 TK
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #5 – April 09, 2015, 01:06:55 am Yahoo Message Number: 152127Thanks Bob and everyone else for your input.Bob, this unit that we have has a 400 watt inverter that is hard wired to the house batteries. It also has a Charge Wizard and a whole-house surge protector.We're not much for TV. If we watch anything it'll more than likely be on the laptop when we have a good signal.I was just pretty much curious as to what other LD owners are using to monitor the weather (especially in the Southwest and Plain States!). The way the weather stations are talking, this sounds like a pretty mean year for storms.Bud in Ohio
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #6 – April 09, 2015, 08:50:56 am Yahoo Message Number: 152131I've been using a Midland WR-300 weather radio for nearly 4 years. The nice thing about it is that each alert can be turned on or off individually. If you don't want, say, iceberg warnings, just turn that one off. It runs fine on 12 volts. I clipped off the "wall wart" AC power supply and attached a lighter plug. The striped side of the cable is negative. It uses very little power. Reception is fine near a window. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009V2YVWhen I arrive at a new location, it takes about a minute to find the best channel and enter the correct SAME code. I usually determine the county by doing a web search on the city, state, and the word "county." For example, a search on moscow tx county shows that Moscow is in Polk County, Texas.To look up the SAME codes, I downloaded the complete list. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/data/SameCode.txtThen I search the list by county and state.Howard http://lazypix.com As an Amazon Associate Lazy Daze Owners' Group earns from qualifying purchases.
Re: [LD] Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #7 – April 09, 2015, 09:42:19 am Yahoo Message Number: 152133The Southwest? I can see having a weather radio if you're traveling in the central portion of the U.S., or even in the Southeast where you do get tornados, but in all of my years of living in the Southwest (grew up in Arizona), I've never seen the type of weather that would require a weather radio. We have a weather radio, but we have never turned it on when we're in Arizona during the winter, so I'm just curious why you would need one "especially" in the Southwest?Linda Hylton(especially in the Southwest and Plain States!).
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #8 – April 09, 2015, 10:42:19 am Yahoo Message Number: 152137We have a Cobra CB which also receives the weather channels. It will sound an alarm if a local alert is broadcast, even if the CB is "turned off". During our trip to the southeast last winter/spring we used the WeatherBug app on an Android phone and an iPad to watch real-time weather radar when severe weather was passing through our areas.Art
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #9 – April 09, 2015, 10:43:37 am Yahoo Message Number: 152138Our Lazy Daze came with a CB radio that also has weather channels. We use that. It works perfectly.
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #10 – April 09, 2015, 11:08:09 am Yahoo Message Number: 152139I would go here for more info...http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/. Keep in mind that you NEED to know WHERE you are in relation to advisories, warnings, etc. All warnings mention counties, cities, so many miles from a certain point. So you need to be geographically alert. Get a radio that you can set the alerts for a specific area, ie., with S.A.M.E. technology. Midland makes a pretty good radio, but anything is better than nothing.Chuck Myers Retired National Weather Service Meteorologist...and Weather Radio Broadcaster (long time ago) 97RB
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #11 – April 09, 2015, 11:22:47 am Yahoo Message Number: 152143Flash floods are common in Nevada
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #12 – April 09, 2015, 11:47:29 am Yahoo Message Number: 152144Living in Arizona, and being a member of the Skywarn weather group based in Flagstaff, I can tell you why. Very high winds, large hail, heavy rain (more than 1-inch/hour), flash flooding and even tornados. We had one come across our golf course (1/4-mile from our house) in 1999 that produced baseball size hail. Created millions of dollars in damage. Every asphalt shingled roof had to be replaced. Nearly every skylight was broken. Hundreds of cars looked like golf balls. Most of the weather service warnings are for flash flooding. Haboobs in the Phoenix area can be very dangerous.Dick
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #13 – April 09, 2015, 12:22:35 pm Yahoo Message Number: 1521452010, six tornadoes hit the Phoenix area. Add high winds, dust storms, flash floods, wildfires, not to mention snow storms in the higher elevations.
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #14 – April 09, 2015, 12:54:13 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152147Hi Linda,Being from Ohio, I consider the "Southwest" to include more than just Arizona. To my line of thinking, Texas, New Mexico, AZ, southern Utah and even southern CA is the Southwest. Almost 4 years ago, my wife and I traveled NM from north to south in a conversion van that we turned into a sleeper. While we were camped in one of the many very open campsites close to the Carlsbad Caverns, a nasty storm blew up with threatening clouds, high winds and rain. Several tent campers actually lost their equipment and took shelter in their cars. We did not have a Weather Radio to inform us as to what was happening so I sat up most of the evening watching the skies and listening. That experience confirmed in me, especially living full time in a home on wheels, that an Emergency Weather Radio is a much needed and valuable asset for peace of mind in situations such as that.Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. LOTS to look up and ponder on as to what unit will be best for us and our needs. This group is an asset in itself!Bud in Ohio
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #15 – April 09, 2015, 01:01:47 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152148Which is just one of the many reasons why we spend little, if any, time in the Phoenix area (although I grew up there...but we didn't have any strange weather then and I don't remember any dust storms).Linda Hylton
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #16 – April 09, 2015, 02:21:58 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152153I have seen several flash floods in the Nevada desert. One happened last year while I was boondocking off HWY 95. The weather radio alerted me before some friends from Vegas called to warn me. I moved to higher ground (not near any mountains) and avoided problems. And the Escapees park in Deming New Mexico got flooded last year rendering their fresh water supply inoperative for a time. In some situations, a weather radio may save you from a disaster or even death. Is that not worth a few bucks? If you have a CB that incorporates one you are fortunate.Bob
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #17 – April 10, 2015, 02:43:14 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152164"Keep in mind that you NEED to know WHERE you are in relation to advisories, warnings, etc. All warnings mention counties, cities, so many miles from a certain point. So you need to be geographically alert."And that's the big disadvantage of a weather radio for a traveler: it can be hard to know where you are, especially while driving. So when the radio broadcasts a tornado warning for Havatampa County, you may not be able to tell whether it applies to you.With an iPhone app such as WeatherAlert, you don't have this problem, because thanks to GPS technology, the phone knows where you are--and thus so does the app. You only get alerts that apply to your current location.I'm not saying not to buy a weather radio--I think everybody should have one, if only for situations where you have no cell phone reception. But these days, I find the weather apps much more useful, because they're so much smarter than any radio.Andy Baird
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #18 – April 10, 2015, 02:47:07 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152165"Flash floods are common in Nevada"And thoughout the Southwest. So are brushfires. Both are good reasons to have a weather radio and weather app with S.A.M.E. capability.Andy Baird
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #19 – April 10, 2015, 03:37:15 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152167Is there a weather radio available that has GPS? GPS chips are very inexpensive, so I wouldn't think that it would add much to the cost of the radio. Then, you wouldn't have to be concerned about cell reception.Kevin
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #20 – April 10, 2015, 03:46:34 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152168Interesting question. I'm not clear on what an iPhone or an iPad (regular or mini) is able to do as a GPS WITHOUT an Internet connection. Does it access satellites like a regular GPS for routing directions, or is one dead in the water (so to speak) if there is no Internet connection throughout the journey? Or does it just map out the route and then you can disconnect from the network and let it work on its own, and it functions as a regular Nuvi-type device?Virtual hugs,Judie http://dorrieanne.wordpress.com
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #21 – April 10, 2015, 03:57:37 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152170It depends on which app you are running on the iPad or iPhone. Some apps need the Internet to frequently update the map display. Some of the apps let you preload areas that you plan to drive in and NOT need Internet while in those areas. Some apps (like Garmin's IOS app) have a complete map database already loaded and behave much like a dedicated GPS. Note: most of the Apple devices without cellular capacity DO NOT have GPS, though you don't have to have an active cell plan to use the GPS.Art
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #22 – April 10, 2015, 04:54:33 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152171In AZ, in a word--HABOOBS!!! The HUGE dust storms that happen regularly...I know *I* want to know when/if one is heading my way so i can button up everything! Gini Free and Junah, canine xtrodinaire "CHERRYOTTE" our litte red home on wheels "Growing old is mandatory. Growing wise is optional."--- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #23 – April 10, 2015, 05:06:00 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152172The majority of the time Haboobs (dust storms) are not predictable and come up out of nowhere. We've been in a couple on I-10 around Casa Grande, AZ. Yes, windy conditions and possible dust storms can be predicted and that's when you should pay attention - especially on I-10.
Re: Emergency Weather Radios Reply #24 – April 10, 2015, 09:05:14 pm Yahoo Message Number: 152173Judie I can't speak for the newer ones but the older Ipads that didn't have built in cell data did not have a GPS chip. They tried to keep track of wifi routers and navigate by them but it was very touch and go. All the Iphones I have had have had built in GPS . Also my Samsung 2 Tablet has built in GPS. My older phones tried to navigate by triangulation of cell towers which worked pretty well when one had good coverage but when down to one or no cell tower fell flat on its face. I never mess with a gps since I have GPS in two phones and my Tablet. A catch is that with most of the nav programs load the roads in by the area you are in and if you run out of cell coverage while needing new road data they fall on their face as well. There are supposed to be programs that load pretty much the whole US into memory but I haven't bothered to find such an app. If I travel out West I will look for such an app or use streets and trips plus my usb GPS. Garry
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