Weatheradio Canada is a Canadian weather radio network that is owned and operated by Environment and Climate Change Canada's Meteorological Service of Canada division. The network transmits in both official languages from 230 sites across Canada. Weatheradio Canada like their telephone service, uses the Starcaster Text to Speech, which has been used for many years and is owned by STR-SpeechTech Ltd. In most locations, the service broadcasts on one of seven specially-allocated VHF radio frequencies, audible only on dedicated "weather band" receivers or any VHF radio capable of receiving 10 kHz bandwidthFM signals centered on these assigned channels, which are located within the larger "public service band". The radio frequencies used by Weatheradio Canada are the same as those used by its American counterpart, NOAA Weather Radio, and receivers designed for use in one country are compatible for use in the other. Since 2004, the service has used Specific Area Message Encoding alerting technology to disseminate severe weather bulletins. Weatheradio has indicated that, in the future, it also plans to add other hazard and civil emergency information to its broadcasts. In some locations, primarily national parks, provincial parks and remote communities with little or no local media service, a transmitter operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation carries the service on a standard AM or FM broadcast frequency. As of August 2007, most of these AM and FM transmitters were unlicensed by the CRTC under a special license exemption granted to low-powernon-commercial broadcasters.
History
In 1976, Environment Canada Weatheradio's service was launched and expanded to 30 locations in roughly 10 years. In the early-1990s, increased government investment permitted major expansion of the network to the present size of 179 sites.
Frequencies
Weatheradio Canada signals are transmitted using FM, with band spacing of 25 kHz. The service uses these frequencies:
162.400 MHz
162.425 MHz
162.450 MHz
162.475 MHz
162.500 MHz
162.525 MHz
162.550 MHz
Programming
Weather information is broadcast in both official languages which is English first then French. Weather alert broadcasts are inserted within the normal playlist, and are available in both official languages. Marine forecasts are broadcast, though on a limited schedule. Most marine forecasts are broadcast on the marine frequency, which is not available on most weather radios. One requires a special receiver capable of receiving the marine frequency, which varies by province. Environment Canada formerly broadcast a full marine forecast which included marine alerts; this has since changed between 2007 and 2009. Weather broadcasts also include the UV index for the forecasted day, and for the following day during the UV index season. The index runs from 1 to 10.
