1. Press
WX/
and start weather search. See “Weather Search” on Page XX.
2. Press
6/ALERT
.
ALERT
appears. This mutes the audio until the scanner receives a
SAME
-coded
signal.
When the scanner receives a
SAME
-coded signal,
ALERT
flashes and an associated “L” code (which
indicates the severity of the alert) and SAME-coded signal appears alternately. The scanner remains on the
weather channel and the audio turns on so you can hear the weather broadcast.
The scanner displays one of the following codes to indicate the alert level .
L1
:
Warning
L2
:
Watch
L3
:
Advisory
WXA
: Weather Alert
Testing Digital Weather Alert Tone
To hear and test the tones for the three alert levels, press
WX/
to select the weather service, then hold
down
ALERT
for about 1 second. The tones sound in the order L3, L2, then L1, and
TEST
flashes. Each alert
code appears as its tone sounds. Press any key to end the test sequence.
Programming a FIPS Code
To specify a county, SAME uses a standard established by the US Census bureau, called FIPS.
The format of a FIPS code is:
PSSCCC, where...
P = area subdivision (0=entire area)
SS = State code (00=all states)
CCC = County code (000=all counties)
For example, the FIPS code for Tarrant County, Texas is:
048439 (48=Texas; 439=Tarrant County).
Some counties are further subdivided, in which cases, the first digit will be 0 for all subdivisions
in the county and each subdivision will be labeled 1-9.
To program your scanner to alert you when the weather service issues an alert,
you must set the scanner to the alert mode, and then leave the scanner monitoring the weather
service. You cannot scan frequencies and monitor for weather alerts at the same time.
To limit weather alerts to a specific area, you must also program in the FIPS code(s) for the area(s) you want to
receive alerts. The scanner can be set to either, alert for all areas, or only the areas you have programmed.
programming FIPS
During weather scan hold mode, press
E/PGM
. The scanner sends itself into FIPS programming mode. If the
scanner is set to alert for all FIPS,
ALLFIPS
appears on the display.