WXJ38: NOAA Weather Radio for Ruidoso, New Mexico
WXJ38 is the NOAA Weather Radio transmitter at Ruidoso (transmitter at Sierra Blanca), broadcasting on 162.550 MHz at 300 watts. It carries the National Weather Service Albuquerque 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 | WXJ38 |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 162.550 MHz |
| Transmitter | Ruidoso (transmitter at Sierra Blanca), New Mexico |
| Power | 300 watts |
| Forecast office | NWS Albuquerque |
| 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 WXJ38 covers
| County | State | SAME code |
|---|---|---|
| Chaves | New Mexico | 035005 |
| Lincoln | New Mexico | 035027 |
| Otero | New Mexico | 035035 |
| Torrance | New Mexico | 035057 |
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 WXJ38
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 New Mexico transmitter, county and SAME code: NOAA Weather Radio in New Mexico. 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.