Owner`s manual

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P.O. BOX 8024 CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA USA 22906 • TEL 434.244.7140 • FAX 434.296.9260

www.ICE-PACK.com • E-mail: info@ICE-PACK.com

Midland Radio WR‐300 Desktop

All Hazards NOAA Weather Radio

FIELD EVALUATION DATE: October 19, 2011

PRODUCT: WR-300 SAME All Hazards NOAA Weather Radio

LOCATION: Northeast Ohio / Central Virginia

EVALUATORS: Mr. Andrew Boggs & ICE PACK Emergency Preparedness Staff

OBJECTIVE/PURPOSE: Field Test the Midland Radio WR300 Desktop All Hazards NOAA

Weather Radio for use as a crisis communications radio during

extreme weather emergencies and disasters.

PRODUCT OVERVIEW

As of August 2011, there were 1,665

tornadoes across the country resulting in

549 fatalities. There have been 14 named

storms from the National Hurricane

Center this year so far and predicted

storms for the remainder of the year have

increased to 19. Hurricane Irene alone

caused 46 fatalities across 13 states.

Hurricane season officially starts on June

and ends on November 30

, but, like

tornadoes, hurricanes can form anytime

of the year. With a hurricane there is at

least an advanced warning of a few days,

whereas tornado warnings average only ten minutes notice. Just this week, tornadoes touched

down here in Central and Northern Virginia. These events come on the heels of our region’s

first 5.8 magnitude earthquake since the 1800's which continues to produce after-shocks – the

latest being just last night. Having adequate warning of an impending hurricane, tornado,

severe snow storm, and flooding is crucial if we are to mitigate such events in our lives or in the

lives of those for whom we are responsible. Therefore an all hazards weather radio equipped

with S.A.M.E. technology is a good investment. The Midland WR-300 All Hazards Weather Radio

makes a lot of sense in keeping you, your family, and workplace informed.

While broadcast radio and television do an excellent job of keeping you aware of severe

weather activities, such resources are crippled during a power outage and are limited when we

are involved in many of our daily activities – sleeping, working, enjoying leisure activities –

Summary of content (7 pages)

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Midland Radio WR‐300 Desktop All Hazards NOAA Weather Radio FIELD EVALUATION DATE: October 19, 2011 PRODUCT: WR‐300 SAME All Hazards NOAA Weather Radio LOCATION: Northeast Ohio / Central Virginia EVALUATORS: Mr. Andrew Boggs & ICE PACK Emergency Preparedness Staff OBJECTIVE/PURPOSE: Field Test the Midland Radio WR300 Desktop All Hazards NOAA Weather Radio for use as a crisis communications radio during extreme weather emergencies and disasters.
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when such devices are often not accessible or simply powered off. Oftentimes people can be caught unaware to the point where it becomes too late to react. Weather radios have been on the market for decades, but unless they utilize S.A.M.E technology, they spend most of their time switched off, offering very little use if storms suddenly brew or disasters strike. S.A.M.E. stands for Specific Area Message Encoding which decodes a 1050 Hz tone for a ten second burst from the National Weather Service.
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The blue backlit readout panel indicates the specific hazard, time, type of transmission and channel from which the information is originating. The unit is also capable of displaying full calendar information, including month, day and year. Speaking of time, unlike some weather radios in the past, the WR-300 will not set the time like an “atomic” WWV clock radio will. You’ll have to reset it for daylight savings time changes. This is perhaps one of the radio’s very minor shortcomings.
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the emergency before switching over to either an EBS live feed or reading a wire copy. When minutes, even seconds, count – the necessary functional delay of this process can be detrimental. Especially if you’re the one in the immediate path of the oncoming tornado. NOAA and NWS information is distributed much faster directly to a S.A.M.E. equipped weather radio in near real time. The radio itself has a solid, substantial feel and doesn’t give the impression it is a child’s toy.
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display. The radio allows you to turn the alert mode off if you wish, but as you can imagine, that would negate the purpose of the radio. However, you can select between voice and siren alert. There are several types of alerts the radio can decode. Be warned the radio’s alert feature is automatically programmed to sound off the alarm on all alerts unless the options are changed. The radio includes a siren test in its menu-driven system.
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On the back panel you’ll find a DC power jack, a programming cable port, an external alert jack, an earphone jack, and the external antenna port. Speaking of power adaptation, one could conceivably purchase a DC power cord that, when using the proper voltage and plug size, would allow the radio to work off a car batter or on solar power. It’s obvious Midland put a lot of thought into the design of the radio.
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stereo phonics is not what the radio is about anyway. Its primary duty is as an all-hazards monitor, and in that department, it does the job well. We can report to you that this All Hazards Radio will really get your attention in the middle of the night! CONCLUSIONS 1. The WR300 works well in both the office and home environment. 2. The All Hazards radio uses multiple power sources and will work if you lose AC power. 3. The options to alert those with hearing disabilities is very commendable. 4.