Since September 11th, everyone in America has thought at least once, "what if terrorists threaten us or even strike again, how will I know about it if I'm not sitting in front of the TV or listening to the radio?" The answer is pretty simple; you won't, unless you have some type of personal warning device. The same is true for severe weather alerts, which are obviously much more likely to affect a person than terror threats. As a privately funded severe weather education project, StormStudy, (www.stormstudy.com) one of our biggest goals is to find better ways to teach and warn the public about severe weather threats.

For years, except for broadcast outlets, NOAA Weather Radio has been the main way for people in the U.S. to get weather warnings, watches & advisories and civil emergency alerts. When they work, they're okay and the government has improved the system a little over the last thirty years. Before the Spring of 2000, to generate an alert on weather radio, a forecaster at your local weather service forecast office did it by typing an alert, printing it, pulling it out of the printer, walking to the desk with the weather radio microphone on it, pressing a couple of buttons, sending a tone and reading the message (usually about 2-3 minutes from the time they decided to issue the alert). At the same time the forecaster printed the alert, it would be broadcast over the NOAA weather wire, so private companies would get the information almost instantly and often beat the alert time of NOAA weather radio by a couple of minutes.

Since NOAA Weather Radio 2000 has come on line, the forecaster now just types the alert, hits the enter key and IF all goes well, a computer starts the alert tone and reads the alert on the NOAA weather radio system with a computer generated voice. The problem is, often, the messages don't go out, as they should because of computer or human errors; plus a great many Americans don't have very good NOAA Weather Radio coverage.

That's where new generation technology, like that from PageUPDATE in Nashville, Tennessee not only fills NOAA Weather Radio coverage gaps, but replaces the old VHF radio technology on which the government continues to build its system, with all digital technology. The Weather Alert 2000 and Weather Alert Partner are two new devices that, unlike NOAA Weather Radio, don't depend on old transmitters and outmoded transmission methods to alert the public of impending dangers. These devices use a nationwide network (covering almost all populated areas of the country) of base-stations to disseminate the text-based alerts received from a satellite up-link system.

And since these devices aren't location dependent like weather radios, the user can choose to receive alerts from ANY sixteen counties in the U.S. anytime, anywhere, on the fly. This makes it easy to set a device to alert for events at your home, a vacation destination, a distant business location, etc. The system also includes codes for national warnings from the Department of Defense and FBI, as well as codes for local weather forecast and news. With most alert paging services, you must call the vendor or use a web-based system to choose your counties and you can't just change them anytime on the device itself. A Weather Alert product actually receives EVERY alert sent out for the entire country! The programming YOU set for the device tells it to alert only for the counties you've chosen.

Another major advantage of the Weather Alert product line is that it's designed for alerts, not general weather information. Even during times when tornado, severe thunderstorm or flood warnings are in effect, NOAA weather radio will continue to rotate current conditions, forecast and other weather fluff with the warnings! What does this mean? Well, if you miss the warning when it first runs and even though your radio may display "Tornado Warning", for example, on its alphanumeric readout, you might still hear "partly cloudy tonight with a chance of a shower," when you turn the radio on, even while a tornado is bearing down on your house!

When it gets an alert, the Weather Alert product lights it's bright red warning LED, sounds a loud tone and displays the current text alert on its eight line display immediately. Even if you're not there when the device alerts, the Weather Alert 2000 saves the twenty most recent alerts; the Weather Alert Partner saves the three most recent alerts for each county slot, or forty-eight alerts total. It also has a personal message memory area so you can save specific messages until you're ready to delete them.

Weather Alert Partner™ is the belt worn version of the Weather Alert 2000 and features the same custom message capabilities as the Weather Alert 2000. Because each device functions as a nationwide alphanumeric pager, a home or office can now transmit messages directly to the device through the Internet. The user's home, office and business now have a way to communicate with the user anywhere. An organization can rapidly deploy custom alerts and messages to specific devices - without lengthy and costly pager reprogramming.

The Weather Alert ® All Hazards Wireless Warning Devices are simply the most powerful warning devices in the Nation. These products are ideal for personal use, for families and schools as well as small businesses.

In homes, you can use the Weather Alert 2000® All Hazards Personal Warning Device in a large area, such as a living room or kitchen. In a bedroom it'll wake you to warn of impending emergencies during the night hours. With Weather Alert 2000®, you will never be disturbed for emergencies and weather events in other counties or cities - only for the areas you select.

Small businesses can keep a Weather Alert 2000® near the telephone operator or in a central area where it can be monitored. Staff and customers will remain safe from quick forming thunderstorms and tornadoes by using this device as part of your daily operations.

If you want to know what the weather's going to be like at the beach this weekend or if you miss your local forecast on TV or radio, a NOAA weather radio is a handy thing to have. And it's a great backup warning device, especially if you have a programmable SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) version. But if your main goal with a weather or civil emergency warning device is GETTING THE WARNINGS, then look closely at PageUPDATE's line of subscription based, Weather Alert products. And get ready! Very soon, you'll be able to get this great technology in a desk phone, with caller ID, voicemail controls, speakerphone and more. This will be the ultimate bedside and desktop multi-function appliance. Get details at www.pageupdate.com .