we need a weather radio because we live in tornado country . when it get stormy , the 9 volt battery backup on this NOAA weather radio keep the weather report come in . we live near a city and have no trouble receive the NOAA broadcast . this unit cost as much as any of the standard weather radio I be look at , but it also have radio , alarm and a very large digital clock display . the spec say the display be 1 '' but I think it be closer to 2 '' . it be not a designer piece , it be purely functional , but that be what we buy it for . a cool feature be that you can set you alarm clock to wake you to the weather report . if you be travel , that be pretty handy .