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Cell phones to begin receiving severe weather alerts in first nationwide system

weathernms

New member
With the extreme weather the country has been experiencing, especially over the last year, wireless carriers and the federal government have teamed up and created a new system to automatically warn people of dangerous weather and other emergencies via a special type of text messaging to cell phones.

http://www.examiner.com/article/cellphones-to-begin-receiving-severe-weather-alerts-first-nationwide-system

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JEV

Mr. Congeniality
GOLD Site Supporter
They would have you to believe this is a new system, but many ham radios already have this feature (my Kenwood V-71A tranceiver does), and you have the option to enable or disable it. If enabled, when severe weather is eminent in your area, the National Weather Service (NWS) tone is heard and one of the 162.XXX Mhz weather channels nearest you takes over the 2 meter frequency slot you had chosen on the radio. At any time you can revert back to listening/talking on your chosen 2 meter frequency. This feature is available because so many hams are involved in Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES), and a large percentage are also trained SKYWARN weather watchers for the NWS.

This is a valuable feature on ham radios, and I believe as well on cell phones. I think it should also be optional to enable or disable this feature on cell phones, just because some people feel their phone conversations are more important than their safety...like those who drive or walk while texting. It's important we cleanup the gene pool as quickly as possible, so the option for disabling this feature will help speed up the process.
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Doesn't this technology already exist for cell phones? I thought weather.com and many other places (including some cities local weather channels) have an opt-in program you can use.

What I don't like about this program is that it also includes other messages from the government. The DOJ can send out messages and Presidential alerts (which cannot be disabled like the weather).
 

thcri

Gone But Not Forgotten
Doesn't this technology already exist for cell phones? I thought weather.com and many other places (including some cities local weather channels) have an opt-in program you can use.

What I don't like about this program is that it also includes other messages from the government. The DOJ can send out messages and Presidential alerts (which cannot be disabled like the weather).


Not only weather.com but just about every local TV and radio station. And I don't subscribe to any of them but have a link on my smart phone to check when I want to.

As for you second paragraph that is all they want to do but hiding it as a weather program.
 

JEV

Mr. Congeniality
GOLD Site Supporter
Yep, they're just dumb enough to put out advance notice that they are about to do something stupid. Nothing like advance warning.:whistling:
 
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