Hieronymus' Blog

Fire stations give away smoke alarms, why can't the Federal Government give away weather radios? I think it's an excellent idea, and it would be tax-money well spent!

Oh come now really, some people can't afford them, so we only save the people who can afford them?

Next possibility, I'm at home the power goes out, the battaries in my weather radio are dead annnd the radio is turned off. Do ya think I'm gonna hear the weather alert?

They spent 20 million or a train system that isn't even approved, sell the train buy the horns. And then fire the person who bought the trains!

That's my take and I'm sticking to it.

Don't stop buying that stuff, that is.

Of course... this is just an idea for the brainstorm. It would be interesting to run some numbers if one had them.

Reverse 911 can only call something like 32 people at a time, divide that by a couple of hundered thousands people and answering machines, and you got disaster.

Actually since this is such a big issue I think they should enact a new code placing warning systems in new buildings and houses that by a touch of a switch at the national weather service or local weather station they could enact the system by quadrents. simple enough to do. as well it would keep the City Beautiful clean of unsightly obstructions, and all other areas. which is what they are really worried about.

They could also sell retofit kits to people who want them, and make it wireless. Maybe that's too easy a solution. they could place the systems on top of current cell phone towers.

Just remember this was my idea, I want braggin rights ... lol have a great day folks..

pitman, EXACTLY my points. We need to WEIGH the alternatives and options. Cost and benefit.

The weather radios, as an overall plan, do have problems but then so do the sirens. As you said, those sirens don't wake most people up. In fact I doubt most people would hear them over a TV or radio turned up somewhat. They were in my neighborhood in MI but LOUD - they were not. They were the best option at the time, however, since weather radios like today's didn't exist.

Actually, xpozed, what current weather radios are indeed are WIRELESS systems already :)

The trick is how to get them INTO the homes and ensure they are maintained. Your suggestion is interesting in that it would REQUIRE the weather radios to be in the homes. Fine for new homes; but how do you get them in EXISTING homes? Some people will buy them and obey codes. Some will not....

The text messages ARE virtually pointless.

Most of the time when you're up and about, you already KNOW there's an alert, unless you're not around other people, not watching TV, listening to the radio or on the computer. There are already many streaming alerts for computers which do a nice job. The situations where text alerts to my cell phone might actually do any good are almost nil.

I still say the weather radio is the BEST alert we have. It can always be improved, as you mention but the only issue is how to get people to actually have them in their homes.

The more I think about sirens the less impressed I am by them. The sirens back in MI weren't very effective and today's test shows how little they actually help.