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EmergencyRadio.org

WXM38: NOAA Weather Radio for Petersburg, North Dakota

WXM38 is the NOAA Weather Radio transmitter at Petersburg (transmitter at Dahlen), broadcasting on 162.400 MHz at 991 watts. It carries the National Weather Service Grand Forks office's broadcast and covers 10 counties, each listed below with the SAME code an alert radio needs to wake for that county and stay quiet for the rest.

CallsignWXM38
Frequency162.400 MHz
TransmitterPetersburg (transmitter at Dahlen), North Dakota
Power991 watts
Forecast officeNWS Grand Forks
StatusNormal (NWS data, July 2026)

Marine radios often label 162.400 MHz as WX2, but WX channel numbers vary by brand - go by the frequency.

Counties WXM38 covers

CountyStateSAME codeNote
MarshallMinnesota027089W 1/2
CavalierNorth Dakota038019
EddyNorth Dakota038027
Grand ForksNorth Dakota038035
GriggsNorth Dakota038039
NelsonNorth Dakota038063
PembinaNorth Dakota038067
RamseyNorth Dakota038071
SteeleNorth Dakota038091
WalshNorth Dakota038099

A county marked with a note (for example partial coverage) is served for that portion only. 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

WXM38 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 WXM38 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 WXM38

Any receiver that tunes 162.400 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.

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