getting a weather forecast when camping or off-grid

Introduction

for most of us who are going on short camping trips we can get the weather forecast before we set out while we still have internet access and examples in Australia are here:
- Melbourne weather
- smartphone apps such as:
  - Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) - includes radar imagery
  - WillyWeather
  - local emergency and fire warning apps
but for those going off-grid for a longer period or when the internet goes down such as extreme weather events (strong winds, floods or bushfires knocking out the local electricity grid) or a rarely an extreme solar storm it is nice to have other options

these require a satellite communicator device and a paid subscription before you go off-grid
see navigation management for hikers

you need a SW or VHF radio capable of accessing the correct frequency - see radio for campers
in America, one usually would rely upon the NOAA weather radio or WeatherRadio Canada
- these are usually in the 161-164MHz ranges (VHF)
in Australia:
- see http://www.bom.gov.au/marine/radio-sat/marine-weather-hf-radio.shtml
- frequencies depend on time of day and whether east or west Australia and are in the range 2MHz to 17MHz (SW)