Introduction to SAME messages

Hazard alerts are transmitted with Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) data, which includes: Receivers that can decode the SAME data can filter alerts by area and/or hazard level and show details about the alert on a display. For a table of all the alerts and the code meanings, click here.

FIPS Codes

The US National Weather Service uses 6-digit Federal Information Processing System (FIPS) codes to issue hazard alerts in specific areas. You can choose which areas you want to hear alerts for by programming the appropriate FIPS codes into your receiver: the receiver only sounds the alert tone if an incoming FIPS code matches one of the areas you entered.

Each county (or parish, etc.) is designated by a 5-digit FIPS code; parts of a county are marked by a section code inserted at the front:
Code Country area
0 Entire County (default)
1 Northwest
2 North Central
3 Northeast
4 West Central
5 Central
6 East Central
7 Southwest
8 South Central
9 Southeast

For a complete index of the FIPS codes used in SAME broadcasts, see the United States and Territories Table at the National Weather Radio website, or call 1-888-NWR-SAME (1-888-697-7263) for a voice menu.

This page applies to the following scanner(s): BCD996XT BCT15X BCD396XT BC346XT BC346XTC Users Guide