Weather Radios

Continuing to think on that NOVA program: Superfloods mentioned yesterday:

https://wb9kzy.blogspot.com/2025/10/superfloods-video.html

I took a look at Midland's weather radio offerings (because there are 9 zillion weather radios out there and Midland is a brand I remember).  The ER10 was the cheapest at $25:

https://midlandusa.com/collections/on-the-go-emergency-preparedness/products/er10vp-eready-compact-emergency-alert-am-fm-weather-radio

It has a digital display, AM/FM bands, a flashlight as well as the weather radio itself with the alert feature.  It would be hard to beat at this price.  I may get one on Ebay or possibly they have them on the island.

I also looked at used radios, the Radio Shack weather cube is in abundance on Ebay.  It's more what I was thinking for a kit as far as a circuitry, using the now defunct MC3357 FM chip, varactor tuning and LM386 audio.

The semi-obligatory inflated price (from the 1973 Radio Shack catalog):

Yikes !  Certainly the Midland ER10 is a comparative bargain although who knows about the Midland's longevity ?  Many of the Radio Shack cubes are still working 50 years later, at least per the Ebay listings.

Finally I searched at the ARRL Periodicals Archive for "2 meter receiver" (thinking that the 2 meter band is similar in frequency to the NOAA stations) and got a number of useful hits.  Some of them mentioned mods to the Radio Shack cube weather radio to make it a 2 meter monitor receiver.  Alas there is no way to build something like the Midland ER10 for $25.

I'll keep thinking about it though, might not be financially practical to build one but certainly more fun.

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm