WXL81: NOAA Weather Radio for Jamestown, North Dakota
WXL81 is the NOAA Weather Radio transmitter at Jamestown (transmitter at Cable Serv. Tower/Ypsilanti), broadcasting on 162.550 MHz at 1000 watts. It carries the National Weather Service Bismarck office's broadcast and covers 7 counties, each listed below with the SAME code an alert radio needs to wake for that county and stay quiet for the rest.
| Callsign | WXL81 |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 162.550 MHz |
| Transmitter | Jamestown (transmitter at Cable Serv. Tower/Ypsilanti), North Dakota |
| Power | 1000 watts |
| Forecast office | NWS Bismarck |
| 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 WXL81 covers
| County | State | SAME code |
|---|---|---|
| Barnes | North Dakota | 038003 |
| Dickey | North Dakota | 038021 |
| Foster | North Dakota | 038031 |
| LaMoure | North Dakota | 038045 |
| Logan | North Dakota | 038047 |
| McIntosh | North Dakota | 038051 |
| Stutsman | North Dakota | 038093 |
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 WXL81
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 North Dakota transmitter, county and SAME code: NOAA Weather Radio in North Dakota. 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.