I spoke to Uniden on the phone yesterday about this radio and the weather alert feature. Rich is absolutely correct in that you CANNOT scan and/or Search while this unit is in "Alert Mode" for weather.
According to Uniden-the two systems operate totally seperate from each other.
I asked them if they plan on using modern technology to allow people to listen to their scanners during bad weather per say and listen to spotters etc., and still have the radio monitoring the NOAA frequency so that if they saw something on radar and set off an alarm for S.A.M.E. that it would cut into the weather alert mode and notify the scanner user.
There really is NO reason why the radio was not designed with this capability. I can only hope that in the future Uniden will incorprate this important feature into the radio.
In the meantime all of us will have to have two radio's working during severe weather. One to monitor the S.A.M.E. and one to monitor spotters and local authorities.
I also asked Uniden if any new Firmware releases were going to be coming out. Their response was NOT at this time.
I still like Rich's comments and would love to se 20 banks in the future.
This is a GREAT Website. Thanks!