KZZ50: NOAA Weather Radio for Essex, Iowa
KZZ50 is the NOAA Weather Radio transmitter at Essex, broadcasting on 162.550 MHz at 303 watts. It carries the National Weather Service Omaha/Valley office's broadcast and covers 4 counties, each listed below with the SAME code an alert radio needs to wake for that county and stay quiet for the rest.
| Callsign | KZZ50 |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 162.550 MHz |
| Transmitter | Essex, Iowa |
| Power | 303 watts |
| Forecast office | NWS Omaha/Valley |
| Status | Normal (NWS data, July 2026) |
Marine radios often label 162.550 MHz as WX1, but WX channel numbers vary by brand - go by the frequency.
Counties KZZ50 covers
| County | State | SAME code |
|---|---|---|
| Fremont | Iowa | 019071 |
| Mills | Iowa | 019129 |
| Montgomery | Iowa | 019137 |
| Page | Iowa | 019145 |
Program the six-digit code into your radio's SAME location list - the SAME code guide walks through it, and how alert radios work explains what the radio does with it.
Hearing KZZ50
Any receiver that tunes 162.550 MHz FM can listen: scanners, VHF ham radios, marine sets, or a software-defined receiver. What those do not do is wake you at 3 a.m. - for that you want a dedicated radio with SAME alerting, covered in the buyer's guide.
Every Iowa transmitter, county and SAME code: NOAA Weather Radio in Iowa. Or look any county up with the finder.
Sources:
- “NWR County Coverage Listings”. weather.gov. Archived from the original on 2026-07-19. Retrieved 2026-07-16. Every figure on this page - frequency, transmitter site, power, operational status, and county SAME codes - is from this dataset. Transmitters move, change power, and go down for maintenance; verify locally before you rely on it.