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WXM73: NOAA Weather Radio for Moorefield, West Virginia

WXM73 is the NOAA Weather Radio transmitter at Moorefield (transmitter at Branch Mtn.), broadcasting on 162.400 MHz at 500 watts. It carries the National Weather Service Baltimore/Washington office's broadcast and covers 17 counties, each listed below with the SAME code an alert radio needs to wake for that county and stay quiet for the rest.

CallsignWXM73
Frequency162.400 MHz
TransmitterMoorefield (transmitter at Branch Mtn.), West Virginia
Power500 watts
Forecast officeNWS Baltimore/Washington
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 WXM73 covers

CountyStateSAME codeNote
AlleganyMaryland024001
AugustaVirginia051015Central/N
City of HarrisonburgVirginia051660
City of StauntonVirginia051790
City of WaynesboroVirginia051820
City of WinchesterVirginia051840
FrederickVirginia051069
HighlandVirginia051091
PageVirginia051139
RockinghamVirginia051165
ShenandoahVirginia051171
GrantWest Virginia054023
HampshireWest Virginia054027
HardyWest Virginia054031
MineralWest Virginia054057
MorganWest Virginia054065
PendletonWest Virginia054071NE 1/2

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

WXM73 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 WXM73 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 WXM73

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 West Virginia transmitter, county and SAME code: NOAA Weather Radio in West Virginia. Or look any county up with the finder.

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