[bhouston]

While I understand the nostalgia, as a Canadian I wasn't even aware this was a thing.

We still have CBC radio that broadcast weather reports, and whether reports are still available on the internet.

If I understand correctly, this service was for people who didn't have internet access, which with cell service, StarLink (yeah, Elon Musk, I know but it has been a game charger in remote communities) and similar services is become a very small minority of individuals.

I think we have to not maintain things that are older tech and unused and focus on things that are the future. If we didn't, we'd still have roads maintained for horse and buggies.

[II2II]

> We still have CBC radio that broadcast weather reports, and whether reports are still available on the internet.

Commercial radio/television broadcasts are not the same thing since they do not offer continuous weather broadcasts. Getting weather information from the Internet is better in most respects, but it is not always the best medium to receive such information. I am a regular user of the Weatheradio service during the summer months, and have been through one situation where it most likely saved lives.

> I think we have to not maintain things that are older tech and unused and focus on things that are the future.

The problem is that we are ditching older tech without finding a viable replacement. I find it difficult to associate that approach with focusing on the future. I find it easier to associate it with forgetting lessons we learned the hard way.

[Marsymars]

I live in a city and have a weather radio.

For me, the value isn't in the weather report, but in the SAME alerts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_Area_Message_Encoding

I don't typically keep my phone on me when I'm in the house, but my weather radio is loud enough to hear anywhere in the house, the alerts it notifies for can be configured (unlike phone emergency alerts in Canada which all broadcast at the unconfigurable ICBM-incoming level, so the result is that authorities have to be very careful of alert fatigue), it never runs out of battery, never needs software updates, never has its OS take away app permissions, etc.

So far in the four years I've had the radio the worst it's alerted me for has been severe hail (thankfully), but that's saved me thousands of dollars in damage to my cars. (And gave me time to cover my tomato plants.)

I don't know of any way to reliably replicate this type of alert even with reliable internet.

[rapind]

> If I understand correctly, this service was for people who didn't have internet access, which with cell service, StarLink and similar services is become a very small minority of individuals.

You'd be surprised at how bad cell service is in Canadian areas that aren't even considered "boonies". There are often times when you're driving without cell service or any other options.

[bhouston]

I agree with that. Cell service in Canada is centred around cities and non-minor roads with most every that isn't in those categories it gets spotty pretty quickly and the non-existent.

https://www.planhub.ca/planhub/coverage-map

[mikestorrent]

> people who didn't have internet access, which with cell service, StarLink (yeah, Elon Musk, I know but it has been a game charger in remote communities) and similar services

I'm not bringing Starlink on a week-long kayak voyage. My cousin isn't bringing it on his hiking and hunting trip in the bush. There's no cell service out there - radio is all you get, at best. This might not be tremendously well used, but there was and continues to be utility for radio broadcasting that one can receive on a cheap low-powered device for free with no subscription in the middle of nowhere. None of your suggestions touch that.

> we'd still have roads maintained for horse and buggies.

Do you leave the city, much? Ever drive up an FSR?

[parl_match]

For people who live in remote areas, Starlink has been very helpful. Hiking and outdoor activities, much less so.

For what it's worth, we're probably a few years off from ubiquitous availability of cheap, sat-based cellphone data. In fact, my iPhone has free sat-based texting right now.

Although also, I really don't enjoy that crucial safety services such as weather data are being discontinued. And I actually really don't enjoy the premise that I'll be able to be reached anywhere in the world, even the remote wilderness.

[gpm]

On the other hand as someone who has gone on week long (and longer) hiking, kayaking, and most frequently canoeing trips in Canada I was completely unaware of this service, and would have been completely uninterested in it is I knew about it.

We just take it as it comes and deal with it...

[amatecha]

It's pretty good for backcountry hiking/camping (or offroading in general) where you are potentially hours away from any kind of cellular service. Some of these weather radio stations have (had?) pretty good coverage. A cheapo radio that can receive weather radio frequencies could last weeks on a single battery charge. It's great to know if my planned hike for the next day is possible or if we should make alternate plans, or if a giant storm is due later in the day, that kind of thing. Once you've been out for a day or two, all the forecasts you had ahead of time are obsolete and incorrect, particularly in the mountains.

[gpm]

Yeah, forecasts are definitely pretty worthless past day 2 or 3, and I can see how someone could find it useful... but part of the charm with camping to me is definitely the decision making process being based on "look at the sky" and not "ask the technology". Definitely a personal taste sort of thing.

[ssl-3]

I'm in the States so I can only relate from from my own perspective, but...

I've got a NOAA weather radio near my bed. It's a Midland WR120 that I picked up several years ago for $20. I've programmed in what areas I want to pay attention to, and what alerts I'm interested in for those areas.

Accordingly, it spends the vast majority of its time just sitting there in silence. Months will go by without a single peep from it.

When a selected alert happens, it comes to life automatically (courtesy of SAME messages) and announces information about it... and then silences itself again. Current alerts are also denoted by a red or yellow LED that stays alight for the duration, for a good visual indicator, and briefly summarized information also shows on the very basic character display on the front.

And, well, that's pretty good for me. We get things like tornadoes here that can flatten a neighborhood in an instant, and I'd rather survive that unscathed than to wind up dead (or, worse: permanently maimed). Proactive, broadcast weather alerts help improve my odds of success.

And unlike my community's outdoor warning sirens that are hard to hear indoors even when I'm listening for them during scheduled tests, this is loud AF inside of my house and will wake the dead.

Other than plugging into the wall for power, it will also run for a long time (days, IIRC) on the 3 AA batteries that it uses for backup power.

Now, don't get me wrong: I've also got other means, but they're all complete shit.

I've had severe weather alerts show up on my phone before (from Google and/or Verizon), but they're amazingly inconsistent with whether they'll appear or not and seemingly impossible to control. I've set up push notifications for apps that are dedicated to the purpose, but my Samsung phone loves to put apps to sleep in ways that make reliable push notifications mostly a non-starter.

In terms of computers and Internet access: Yeah, sure -- I've got computers and Internet access. But I'm not trying to hit refresh on a weather page all night just to see if a tornado is happening nearby when the weather is iffy, or to set up a computer to alert me to a weather hazard. And when the power dips here because the weather is awful, the DOCSIS network immediately goes with it. The cell phone towers, which are slow here on their very best days, also get overloaded and become unusable for data.

Running my network on batteries and/or integrating a generator and/or getting a Starlink dish for backup sounds like a fools' errand when a trio of cheap alkaline cells and a normally-silent radio will do what I need.

So anyway, weather radio is a lot more than just a thing that a person can tune into if they elect to choose to hear the weather forecast.

And Canada's service appears offer similar functionality -- with SAME messages and the whole 9 yards: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weatheradio_Canada#History

You guys are losing something important up there.

[Marsymars]

Great comment - I missed this as I was typing mine. You and I have basically the same usage, but you filled in some details I didn't include in my reply.