First and foremost, the
Midland Weather Radio Model WR-300 is a
Weather radio. Sure, it has a clock radio capability, but it is more of a sleep saving device, rather than an awakening device. We live on the periphery of tornado alley, and a tornado descending on our area during one of many intense seasonal thunderstorms is a very real possibility. At night, when such a storm is forecast, we can now go to bed in relative peace, knowing that the radio will alert us if the National Weather Service (NWS) puts out a Watch or a Warning. In the three years we have owned this device, I have slept much more soundly knowing we’ll have warning and can get our family to the basement in the event of such an emergency.
This weather radio has a number of excellent features. It uses National Weather Radio/Specific Area Monitoring Encoding (
NWR/SAME) across seven NWS channels in the 162 MHz FM band, which provides you with
constant weather monitoring specific to your area. In that way, it provides up-to-the-minute NWS local weather forecast at the touch of a button. But it can also be set up to alert you in the event that a watch or a warning has been issued for your area. The alarm sound is the same as you hear on the TV and radio for tests of the emergency broadcast system, and it is hard to ignore. This little device will get your attention and will most certainly wake you up. Just as an aside, the watch/warning system is not exclusively weather… it also includes civil warnings like Amber alerts or domestic disturbances. Also, although it provides broad geographic coverage, if you live in a very remote location, it is possible you won’t be able to receive the signal. As long as you are within the areas served, that is, within 50 miles of a broadcast, this radio can get receive it. Chances are good you can receive a signal; coverage is broad. Even the Aleutian Islands have specific frequencies, and they are the definition of Remote for me! If you’re curious, check coverage in your area at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/indexnw.htm
The device also provides
AM/FM radio and has a standard
wake-up alarm function. A word of caution: there is only one small speaker, so the sound is tinny. Like I said, it’s a Weather radio, best used for getting the weather. It will wake you up, and it is a radio in the event of an emergency, but it isn’t a pleasure to listen to. And besides, if you’re just in the market for a clock radio, there’s no reason to spend this much money.
It has a
battery backup, so when the power goes out, you can still get the weather updates you crave. It is therefore a nice substitute for The Weather Channel (or whatever weather update you prefer) under power- or cable-outage circumstances.
The system is programmable through a series of menus that read out on the LCD screen allowing you to set the time, alarm, and other weather-related preferences. Quite honestly, the programming isn’t particularly intuitive. It hasn’t been a problem, but after owning this device for three years, I still have to refer to the manual if I want to change a setting – like twice a year when I need to adjust for daylight savings time. It would be a nice feature if this radio included an atomic clock setup for always-correct time. It doesn’t.
There are a couple of minor annoyances with this radio that a buyer might like to know about:
1) The clock isn’t atomic or otherwise automatically adjusted, which is surprising in a device that costs in this price range. Newer models may have wisely incorporated this feature.
2) When the speaker is not turned on, it makes a quiet hissing sound. I’m not sure what that is about, but it would certainly be annoying to a light sleeper if the radio were on the nightstand by his head. Mine isn’t, and it doesn’t bother me. But the hiss is certainly audible.
3) Our radio has a little trouble with interference. At certain locations and with the power cord in certain positions, there is an annoying squeal that accompanies the broadcast. It has something to do with the magnetic field induced by the electricity running through the power cord, I guess, based on my memory of my physics classes way back when. The radio doesn’t squeal when it is running on battery power, and I can coil and loop the power cord in such a way that the squeal disappears. So this drawback hasn’t been a problem, but it is a bit of an annoyance until I get it configured just right. As a result, I am very hesitant to move it at all!
Despite the minor annoyances described above, we have been very pleased with our weather radio. Perhaps other brands offer similar products without those drawbacks; we haven’t looked elsewhere because the annoyances are insignificant in our use pattern. What makes this radio a must-have item in our house is the sense of security it offers us, most particularly at night. Knowing that the radio will sound an alert as soon as NWS broadcasts one is a real comfort. We can go to bed and really sleep without feeling compelled to get up and check the TV or radio for scary weather alerts all night.
If handy weather-related gadgets are of interest to you, please read my review of the
LaCrosse Technology Digital Weather Station (Model WS-7078SUF).
Meijer
