The Siren Board

The weather radios here in Louisville have been broadcasting nothing but static and CB traffic since about midnight last night, and there's a chance of Thunderstorms beginning tonight. I noticed the problem last night, when the siren on my vintage weather radio sounded for no apparent reason. When I listened to the weather radio then, I heard the same thing I'm hearing now. My digital weather radio is doing the same thing, only it hasn't false alarmed.

Edit: I just contacted the Weather Service, and they told me that the problem is due to a failure of the main transmitter, and they've got a call in to KET to get it fixed.

Thats dangerous they should get that fixed ASAP. What would happen if the power goes out and half the sirens dont work(not including batt backup)? Half the town will have no warning!

Thankfully, they finally got it fixed between nine and ten o'clock this morning. Everything is working great now.

It wouldn't have just been Louisville that could have been in danger. Everyone within a 60 mile radius of the transmitter was effected. I'm not sure if the secondary transmitters in Elizabethtown and Echron were effected. If they were, that would have been very bad if there was severe weather.

A lot of the NOAA Weather/All-Hazards Radio transmitters are getting rather old. Some of them are easily 20-30 years old. When you consider that these radios transmit all the time, that causes a lot of wear and tear on the components inside. Likewise, replacement parts are no longer available for some of the older GE and RCA units.

I know there are plans to replace the Baltimore, Maryland transmitter, as it's one of the oldest still on the air. However, due to budget cuts, the Feds can only replace so much of their aging telecommunications infrastructure at a time. IMHO, I think that the NWR program should receive a higher priority when it comes to equipment replacement, as many people's lives depend on this network.

ver tum wrote:Thankfully, they finally got it fixed between nine and ten o'clock this morning. Everything is working great now.
I'm not sure if the secondary transmitters in Elizabethtown and Echron were effected. If they were, that would have been very bad if there was severe weather.

Only if they received the primary NWS signal "over the air". Otherwise the problem would have affected the one signal.

I've seen a few NWS sites now using Armstrong transmitters.

I agree with you, 500AT. I don't know how old our main transmitter is, but I think that the two secondary ones are fairly new. NWR is one of the quickest and most effective ways to distribute warnings, and it should have a very high priority on the federal and state government's list, along with the sirens.

What a lot of people don't realize, is that the Emergency Alert System is almost completely dependent on NWR, so if NWR fails, the EAS will also fail, and a lot of people won't get the warning. That's one of the many reasons why sirens are so important. But for someone like me, who is almost 2 miles from the nearest siren, a working weather radio is esential. I have both an analog and a digital weather radio, so that if one fails, which has happened, I may get the warning on the other one.

kb1hwh wrote:Only if they received the primary NWS signal "over the air". Otherwise the problem would have affected the one signal.

I've seen a few NWS sites now using Armstrong transmitters.

From what I understand, the signal is broadcasted over the main transmitter in Floyd County, Indiana, then it is rebroadcasted on the two secondary transmitters. I'll call the Weather Service today just to be sure.

The system has been a clusterfugi from its beginning, and will continue to be a mess because the bureaucrats in DC like playing power games.

I have or did have one of the first generation transmitters, built in a 30" square Hoffman Enclosure by a now defunct company in Rochester, NY. The Weather Service contracted for the transmitters without bothering to consider type acceptance from the FCC, and insisting they did NOT need licenses for their transmitters.

After the first handfull of filthy transmitters went on air all hell broke loose with 2 federal agencys going head to head in a turf battle, and the remaining transmitters went into mothballs. By the time it shook out in the Courts, the manufacturer was bankrupt.

The original transmitter was about as broadbanded as a spark gap transmitter, covering about 15mhz of spectrum.

In the Northeast the system seems to be switching to an internet based system that ships via email to everything from desktops to phones.

Wow, its good to know it happened to someone else too!!

It was about that same time, when to check the forecast before i went to bed, noting but white noise. Turned it on in the mroning, still the same white noise. But, after I came home to school, NOAA was back online.

I was worring that I accedentally knock the radio's frequency off!

Unbelievably, it failed again last night. Again, my vintage weather radio false alarmed, and when I listened to it, I just heard white noise. It's working again now though. I'm definitely going to call the Weather Service today to get an update from them, and to find out about the transmitters. I got tied up yesterday afternoon, so I forgot to do it.