SAME Alert DX

[n2mh]

As heard in Oak Island, NC, FM03ww.

The Required Weekly Tests for August 9th were pretty much successful. However, I noticed in one on them, the SAME code failed lookup. Looking further at the group of counties covered, this RWT test was not for WXL50 but rather for WXL70, on the same channel, 162.475. WXL70 is in Charlotte, NC, about 195 miles west of my NC QTH. WXL50 is in St. Pauls, NC, only 80 miles away.

VHF has been in pretty good shape during that timeframe but this was a surprise! .475 around here is pretty much a jumble of stations, none of which are generally clear.

Since the NWR xmtr callsign is not embedded in the SAME code, the WXL50 id is from the boiler plate used to make a readable version of the SAME alert.

73, Mark, N2MH

Subject: Required weekly test: WXL50 St. Pauls, NC
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2023 16:30:03 +0100 (BST)
From: PiWxRx <piwxrx@n2mh-mailhub.local.mesh>
To: Wx Listener <wxl50@n2mh-mailhub.local.mesh>

The National Weather Service has issued a Required weekly test at
11:30 local time on 2023/8/9 for the following area(s):

037007 Anson County, NC
037119 Mecklenburg County, NC
045091 York County, SC
037109 Lincoln County, NC
037153 Richmond County, NC
037097 Iredell County, NC
037045 Cleveland County, NC
037003 Alexander County, NC
location:037025
037179 Union County, NC
037035 Catawba County, NC
037123 Montgomery County, NC
037167 Stanly County, NC
045021 Cherokee County, SC
037159 Rowan County, NC
037071 Gaston County, NC

This weather alert is in effect for the next 00:15 hours
----------
WXL50 can be heard on MeshPhone 910-4164.
----------
Disclaimer: Timeliness of this alert can not be guaranteed,
due to the store- and-forward proceses used in message
forwarding. Timeliness can only be guaranteed through
direct reception of the Over The Air signal from the NOAA
Weather Radio/Environment Canada transmitter. These alerts
via mesh networking or packet radio should not be relied
upon for the safety of life or property.
----------
Powered by piwxrx 4.4.2
----------

[n2mh]

This time, WWF60 on Buck Mountain, NC, 162.500 was decoded in Oak Island, NC, appx. 77 miles away. Apparently, this station was stronger than WNG628 in Georgetown, SC which was expected. As explained above, the callsign in the printed alert does not match the callsign of the actual transmitter.

73, Mark, N2MH
Oak Island, NC FM03ww

9/27/23 11:05 AM	Required weekly test: WNG628 Georgetown, SC The National Weather Service has issued a Required weekly test at 11:05 local time on 2023/9/27 for the following area(s): 037179 Union County, NC 037007 Anson County, NC 037123 Montgomery County, NC 037167 Stanly County, NC 037125 Moore County, NC 037153 Richmond County, NC 037159 Rowan County, NC 037025 Cabarrus County, NC 037151 Randolph County, NC This weather alert is in effect for the next 06:00 hours ---------- WNG628 can be heard on MeshPhone 910-4165.

[N1LF]

Very interesting. What are you using to decode the SAME alerts? I have a Radio Shack 12-258 that interfaces with my computer but the software is out of date. Nothing seems to decode correctly anymore.

[n2mh]

I use a software package called "PiWxRx" written by Martin Alcock, VE6VH. PiWxRx takes the audio stream from a NWR radio and splits it two ways - one way goes to a SAME message decoder and the other way goes to a SIP client which presents a telephone extension to a pbx. The SAME message decoder decodes the SAME tones and (in my case) sends them out as an email using smtp. In addition to email, you also have the option of a sip message to a phone or a GET to a web page. The audio stream can come from a usb sound fob connected to the discriminator of a conventional FM radio or from an RTL-SDR dongle. The dongles are known to be pretty deaf. So, the advice is to only use the rtl-sdr dongle on local stations. If you have a real FM radio, the RA series of audio interfaces from Masters Communications in Florida work nicely.

PiWxRx is available on github. Go to the github home page and enter PiWxRx into the search box. Beware that there is a ton of configuration to make this work. In addition, you will need something to process the alerts once they are generated.

PiWxRx was developed for use on an AREDN Amateur Radio Mesh Network. So far, there's about a dozen stations running it and sending their email alerts to a central point for display to anyone on the Mesh. The sip extensions are all on the MeshPhone pbx network. MeshPhone is reachable from Hamshack Hotline and Hams Over IP if you are not on the Mesh.

[N1LF]

N1MH, fascinating stuff, OM. Can I ask what you are using for a receiver? I have a Yaesu VX-150 HT that is very sensitive on the WX band. Picked up a spare that I could dedicate to this project.

[n2mh]

Sorry for the delay.. The radio is an old commercial Midland mobile radio. The audio is picked directly off the FM demodulator, passed through a Masters Communications audio interface into a raspberry pi for processing.