WXK44: NOAA Weather Radio for Willmar, Minnesota
WXK44 is the NOAA Weather Radio transmitter at Willmar (transmitter at New London), broadcasting on 162.475 MHz at 600 watts. It carries the National Weather Service Twin Cities/Chanhassen office's broadcast and covers 13 counties, each listed below with the SAME code an alert radio needs to wake for that county and stay quiet for the rest.
| Callsign | WXK44 |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 162.475 MHz |
| Transmitter | Willmar (transmitter at New London), Minnesota |
| Power | 600 watts |
| Forecast office | NWS Twin Cities/Chanhassen |
| Status | Normal (NWS data, July 2026) |
Marine radios often label 162.475 MHz as WX3, but WX channel numbers vary by brand - go by the frequency.
Counties WXK44 covers
| County | State | SAME code |
|---|---|---|
| Benton | Minnesota | 027009 |
| Chippewa | Minnesota | 027023 |
| Kandiyohi | Minnesota | 027067 |
| Lac qui Parle | Minnesota | 027073 |
| McLeod | Minnesota | 027085 |
| Meeker | Minnesota | 027093 |
| Pope | Minnesota | 027121 |
| Renville | Minnesota | 027129 |
| Stearns | Minnesota | 027145 |
| Stevens | Minnesota | 027149 |
| Swift | Minnesota | 027151 |
| Wright | Minnesota | 027171 |
| Yellow Medicine | Minnesota | 027173 |
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 WXK44
Any receiver that tunes 162.475 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 Minnesota transmitter, county and SAME code: NOAA Weather Radio in Minnesota. 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.