Customer Reviews

Midland WR-30 Digital Weather/Hazard Radio with S.A.M.E. Technology and FM Clock Radio

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have had this weather radio for a couple of years. Having specific area message encoding is very helpful and keeps it from going off for disturbances in neighboring counties. It is relatively easy to program, but it helps to have the directions available. One must go to the NOAA web site to get the county codes, so access to the internet is needed to program it.
Recomended.

This seems to work as advertised. One feature that has not been mentioned is that you can add up to 3 new SAME alert codes. This may be useful in the future for new codes for warnings, AMBER alerts, etc. On the con side, I tried to wall mount the radio about four feet high. It is difficult for a 6 foot person to read the LCD display at that height. I think the LCD's just are not easily seen unless you look at them almost straight on. But when I put the radio on a desk, it was much easier to read the LCD display.

I bought this Weaher radio after hours and hours of trying to find one that had a price that I could afford and the options (S.A.M.E.) that I wanted. I have to say that this radio has worked flawlessly. I went to the NOAA's website to get my county code, programmed it in and now I get nothing but alerts for the county I live in thanks to the S.A.M.E. technology. The NWS runs a Emergency Alert system test on it every Wednesday at 2:00pm in my area which lets me know that they are alive. It does take some playing around with to figure some things out, but nothing too complicated. This is a great weather radio and I highly recommend it.

The wall-wart power supply was of poor quality, and on weaker signals there was an audible AC hum. When switching from Wx Radio to FM Broadcast below 93 Mhz I usually got a loud buzzing instead of the radio station. The phase-locked loop (PLL) did not lock. Tuning above 93 Mhz and then down would allow reception but who wants a radio that acts that way. (I mostly listen to NPR at 91.1 Mhz.) The round "selector" dial was rough to operate and felt like a rusty wheel, requiring a little more force than necessary. Side volume control was rough in operation. As far as I can tell there was no way to actually turn it off, so if it were unplugged the batteries would exhaust themselves...

The N.W.S. Weather radio broadcasts and S.A.M.E encoding are great. It's a shame I can't find a good quality receiver.

This is a great tool, especially here in Florida. Lots of activity and lots of "HURRICANES." Great to find the user's manual on line as mine was lost in the move to Florida. Would not be without a weather radio with these features.