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EmergencyRadio.org

WNG736: NOAA Weather Radio for Washington DC, Maryland

WNG736 is the NOAA Weather Radio transmitter at Washington DC (transmitter at Silver Spring), broadcasting on 162.450 MHz at 300 watts. It carries the National Weather Service Baltimore/Washington office's broadcast and covers 9 counties, each listed below with the SAME code an alert radio needs to wake for that county and stay quiet for the rest.

CallsignWNG736
Frequency162.450 MHz
TransmitterWashington DC (transmitter at Silver Spring), Maryland
Power300 watts
Forecast officeNWS Baltimore/Washington
StatusNormal (NWS data, July 2026)

Marine radios often label 162.450 MHz as WX5, but WX channel numbers vary by brand - go by the frequency.

Counties WNG736 covers

CountyStateSAME code
District of ColumbiaDistrict of Columbia011001
Anne ArundelMaryland024003
CharlesMaryland024017
HowardMaryland024027
MontgomeryMaryland024031
Prince GeorgesMaryland024033
ArlingtonVirginia051013
FairfaxVirginia051059
LoudounVirginia051107

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.

A radio that will use this code

WNG736 alerts are only useful inside a radio you can program the s codes above into. Two that do it, for two different jobs.

At home, always on

Midland WR120B. Mains desk radio with battery backup. Program the SAME code from the table and it stays silent until your county specifically is warned, then wakes you.

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In the bag or the car

Midland ER310. Crank, solar and USB, with a flashlight. Receives WNG736 the same as anything else; it does not do SAME alerting. The one still working on day three of an outage.

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Hearing WNG736

Any receiver that tunes 162.450 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 Maryland transmitter, county and SAME code: NOAA Weather Radio in Maryland. Or look any county up with the finder.

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