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EmergencyRadio.org

WNG661: NOAA Weather Radio for Newcastle, Wyoming

WNG661 is the NOAA Weather Radio transmitter at Newcastle, broadcasting on 162.475 MHz at 300 watts. It carries the National Weather Service Rapid City 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.

CallsignWNG661
Frequency162.475 MHz
TransmitterNewcastle, Wyoming
Power300 watts
Forecast officeNWS Rapid City
StatusNormal (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 WNG661 covers

CountyStateSAME codeNote
CusterSouth Dakota046033
Fall RiverSouth Dakota046047W
NiobraraWyoming056027W
WestonWyoming056045W

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

WNG661 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 WNG661 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 WNG661

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

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