Weather Radio Transmitters & Codes

Weather Radio Transmitters & Codes

Whether you already own a NOAA Weather Radio or you plan on purchasing one, the first step in programming it is to determine which transmitter you should be listening to. There are a total of 20 transmitters located across the state of Alabama that serve its 67 counties. There are also a few transmitters in surrounding states that also serve some of the Alabama counties. The image below depicts the transmitter(s) that covers each county across the entire state. Locate your county on the map and see which transmitter(s) covers your particular area. If there is more than one, then please visit this website to see which transmitter has better coverage across your location.

Now that you know which transmitter you should be listening to, the next step is to program your radio to the correct frequency (MHz). The image below shows the locations of all 20 Alabama transmitters and their respective frequencies. Make sure your radio is set to the frequency that corresponds to the transmitter that covers your county. For those of you who have weather radios with SAME "Specific Area Message Encoding" capability, you will need to program in the SAME codes for each county that you would like to receive warnings for. If you want to receive warnings for all counties covered by the transmitter, then you will not need to program in any SAME codes. However, if you are only interested in receiving watches/warnings for one county or a couple of counties, then you will need to program in the SAME codes for those counties. One thing you will need to keep in mind is that every county you program in will need to be covered by the same transmitter. If you program in a county that is not covered by the transmitter that you are listening to, then you will not receive warning products for that county.

For additional information on NOAA weather Radio, such as where to buy one, what products are broadcasted, and SAME codes for other locations, please visit our main NOAA Weather Radio webpage.