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Add an official alert receiver suited to your country

Some countries run a dedicated weather and hazard radio network; others use broadcast stations and phone alerts. Know which system covers your estate and which parts of it need the mobile network.

How

1. US example: NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts 24 hours a day on 162 MHz from over 1,000 transmitters and reaches about 95 percent of the population. Reliable range is about 40 miles (64 km) on flat ground and less in mountains.
2. Buy a weather radio with SAME coding so it alerts only for your area, and look for the Public Alert certification the NWS recommends, which includes battery backup.
3. US broadcast alerts also come through the Emergency Alert System on radio and TV. FEMA says Primary Entry Point stations have resilient transmission and cover over 90 percent of Americans.
4. Canada example: Weatheradio Canada began shutting down on 16 March 2026, and the last transmitters went off on 31 March 2026. Alerts continue through Alert Ready on radio, TV and LTE phones, so a battery broadcast radio is now the main non-network option.
5. European example: EU-Alert and national versions (such as NL-Alert) use mobile cell broadcast, so they fail when the mobile network fails. Rely on broadcast radio as the backup.
6. Check coverage maps for your estate and test reception at the house before relying on any service.

Sources

1. NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards poster. US National Weather Service, accessed 2026-11
2. Emergency Alert System fact sheet. FEMA, accessed 2026-11
3. Emergency Alerts and the National Public Alerting System. CRTC (Canada), accessed 2026-11
4. Canada to shut down its VHF weather radio service. Radio World, accessed 2026-11
5. ETSI TS 102 900: European Public Warning System (EU-ALERT) using the Cell Broadcast Service. ETSI, accessed 2026-11
6. Weather Radio Canada shuts down (4 April 2026). Worldwide TV-FM DX Association (WTFDA), accessed 2026-11

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