My GEM, ISY, Dash Box, Insteon Home Automation Install

[Teken]

WEATHER FLOW - WEATHER METER:

On August 08, 2016 upon opening the mail box I was presented with a secure key? Thinking long and hard about what I had purchased this month nothing came to mind? As noted in previous threads in this forum I am a Alpha / Beta tester for the Weather Flow team on their latest hardware release called the Air & Sky.

Unbeknownst to me this fantastic company sent me one of their production mini portable wind and weather meters! Should you be interested in purchasing the very same it can be found here which retails for $79.95 USD: http://www.weatherflow.com/products/

I have to say this is quite humbling and fantastic all rolled up in one.

Below is what came in today's mail delivery for those needing a portable hand held weather station and wind detector.

This is the front of the box:



Rear view of the box indicating basic features & specifications.



Flipping open the card board cover lists out the incredible technical specifications and tolerances of this fantastic little hand held weather station.



Wide shot of the weather meter still in the box listing off the sealed stainless steel bearings, none slip outer silicone skin, key ring, 1/4" screw mount, and 3.5 mm audio jack.

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The weather / wind meter comes with a beautiful clam shell case which holds all the accessories and the meter itself when not in use.



The case has a positive force insertion button to release the top clam shell. Meaning the case won't accidentally open unless you intend it to be. The bottom of the case also has embedded plastic molded feet to protect the finish of the back side.

I intend to install some clear rubber feet for extra protection and have a few cheap neoprene slip covers that will hold the weather meter when not in use.



The unit comes with a replaceable CR2450 lithium battery cell. As seen up above the unit comes with a plastic pull tab to ensure the units sitting on the shelf don't self drain while pending sales. Attached in this image capture is the 3.5 mm audio jack adapter which simply screws into the unit.

I have used and had many similar anemometers, temperature, pressure, to humidity sensors in the past. But its safe to say this unit is one of the smallest, accurate, and feature filled units I have ever owned.



Here is a image capture of the unit activated by the center button which is glowing blue which connects via blue tooth and does not require any sort of pairing?



I didn't have a lot of time to put the unit through extensive testing. But wanted to quickly share what some of the basic features, views, and options were present. The first thing is to download the appropriate smartphone application for the operating system of choice whether it be for iOS / Android.



Once the application is loaded in your smartphone the next step is to screw on the 3.5 mm audio jack into the weather meter. Next insert the unit into the smartphones audio jack and launch the application.

When the application is opened and the unit has not been activated you will see a *Not Connected* option tab, as seen here.



If the application is launched and you press the center blue power button on the weather meter the application will immediately indicate green *Start* as seen below.



Once you select the *Start* button the device will start to pull the data from the weather meter which you see high lighted in the red *Stop* box. This value can be adjusted to allow the meter to capture longer duration's of environmental changes.



After the data has been accumulated and retrieved from the weather meter a basic view is presented here listing off wind direction, average wind speed, wind gust, temperature, pressure, and humidity.



Selecting the blue *More Data* button will render very detailed listings of the measurement just taken at the local site.



This is the bottom half of the screen capture as it was too long to do in one take. Of special note the engineers had the mind set and common sense to allow the end user select C / F for each specific measurement.

Meaning if you wanted to see wind speed in (Imperial) MPH but temperature in (Metric) Celsius you can!

You also have the option to select wind speed in MPH, KMS, Knots, Meter Per Second, Beaufort, Linear feet.



The smart application has a fantastic historic tracking interface with date & time. Pressing any of the links will render the same basic information with the option to select more data as indicated above.



Each weather sample can be appended with a description and detailed notes up to 256 characters. This is extremely helpful when environmental conditions are very specific or where extra data is needed to compliment the imperial data taken.

Here is a quick snap shot of what some of the features and options are in the main menu.



Under the settings tab are the various options I indicated above for your viewing pleasure. Of special note this amazing device allows the end user to publish their data in the companion App called *Wind Alert*.



The Wind Alert application essentially allows you to publish your hyper local climate data with geo location tracking for you or others to see.



Using the two fantastic applications will allow you to publish, track, and geo coordinate hyper local weather patterns that are important to you and others.



Some of the features of this unit are listed below:

Wind Speed - Wind speed, or wind flow velocity, is a fundamental atmospheric rate. Wind speed is caused by air moving from high pressure to low pressure, usually due to changes in temperature.

Wind Direction - Wind direction is reported by the direction from which it originates. For example, a northerly wind blows from the north to the south. Wind direction is usually reported in cardinal directions or in azimuth degrees. For example, a wind coming from the south is given as 180 degrees; one from the east is 90 degrees.

Wind Speed(Avg) - The average over the sample period

Wind Speed (Gust) -The Maximum gust over the sample period

Temperature (Dry Bulb Temperature) - The dry-bulb temperature (DBT) is the temperature of air measured by a thermometer freely exposed to the air but shielded from radiation and moisture.

Pressure - WEATHERmeter measures and reports "station pressure" (as opposed to "sea level pressure").

Humidity- Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air. Water vapor is the gaseous state of water and is invisible

Apparent Speed -The Apparent wind is the wind experienced by an observer in motion and is the relative velocity of the wind in relation to the observer. Apparent wind velocity is the vector sum of the true wind and the headwind an object would experience in still air.

Apparent Angle - Apparent wind velocity is the vector sum of the true wind and the headwind an object would experience in still air.

Dew Point - the temperature to which air must be cooled, at a given pressure and water-vapor content, for it to reach saturation; the temperature at which dew begins to form

Wet Bulb Temperature - The wet-bulb temperature is the temperature a parcel of air would have if it were cooled to saturation (100% relative humidity) by the evaporation of water into it, with the latent heat being supplied by the parcel.

Wind Chill- Wind-chill or windchill, (popularly wind chill factor) is the perceived decrease in air temperature felt by the body on exposed skin due to the flow of air.

Heat Index - a quantity expressing the discomfort felt as a result of the combined effects of the temperature and humidity of the air.

Feels Like - The combination of the heat index and the wind chill factor are denoted collectively by the single terms "apparent temperature" or "relative outdoor temperature" or simply "Feels Like". Wind chill is the apparent temperature felt on exposed skin, which is a function of the air temperature and wind speed.

Air Density - The mass per unit of volume of air in terms of weight per unit of volume.

Delta T - Delta T is used by the agricultural industry. It is an important indicator for acceptable spraying conditions. It is indicative of evaporation rate and droplet lifetime. Delta T is calculated by subtracting the wet bulb temperature from the dry bulb temperature. When applying pesticides, Delta T should ideally be between 2 and 8, and not greater than 10.

Headwind/Tailwind - A tailwind is a wind that blows in the direction of travel of an object, while a headwind blows against the direction of travel. A tailwind increases the object's speed and reduces the time required to reach its destination, while a headwind has the opposite effect.

Crosswind - a wind blowing across one's direction of travel.

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As of this writing I am simply blown away at how small, accurate, and feature rich this device is. The little wind meter is so well balanced and sensitive even the slightest breath will make the wind vanes turn!

Using it on the registers in my home offers me incredible insight and imperial data about changes in air flow while I continue to work on different projects that have to do with the HVAC system in my home.

Normally the air flow is calculated in CFM's having the ability to compare the two with a dedicated manometer which measures pressure is great. When I have more time I will detail and offer a video of this incredible product in action.

Once again I have to extend my thanks and gratitude to the team at Weather Flow in honoring me with a retail sample of the portable weather / wind meter.

[Teken]

WEATHER FLOW - WEATHER METER:

[Teken]

WEATHER FLOW - WEATHER METER:

[Teken]

WEATHER FLOW - WEATHER METER:

[Teken]

COMMUNICATIONS - WEATHER RADIO'S:

As many of you know I live in one of the coldest parts of Canada known to man. Each year the four seasons bring upon the Teken household endless weather patterns. Being prepared for extreme weather and natural disasters have always been top of mind. Considering yours truly has experienced wild fires, earth quakes, tornado, hurricanes, blizzards, to extreme weather conditions.

In previous threads (I know its really long ) I had touched upon one of many early alert systems I rely on heavily in my home. The First Alert WX-150 is an old school unit that has served me quite well and integrates most excellently with my home automation and security alarm system.

This fantastic unit has a output which allows me to send a signal to both the Insteon HA and the security alarm panel. Even though this unit is so excellent its quite large to haul around if I am travelling on the road.

So this year I decided it was a good time to update all of the weather radio's in my home for travel use. Below I will list off the features and pro's and con's of each model in hopes the information proves helpful to the next person wanting the same.

I do have to say that none of this could have been accomplished with out the support of my great friend BBB! Some of you may recall he is the one who sent out the Amazon Echo to yours truly last year. Once again my partner in crime was able to assist me in purchasing and sending over these great weather radio's.

As typical I was surfing the Interwebs for random things when I stumbled upon some fantastic deals at Amazon.com. These radios are priced from $35 - 85.XX in range from various e-tailers on line.

So when I stumbled upon the very same weather radios going for a fraction of the retail price I simply had to get BBB to help me out in purchasing them!

Once again I have to extend my appreciation and great thanks to my friend BBB for always coming through to help another. I look forward to the day we can smash some brews, break bread, and have lots of laughs in person.

TESTING PARAMETERS AND TEKEN STAR RATING (TSR):

Since starting on this little journey I have found out a wealth of information and gained lots of knowledge about weather radio's. From this personal experience my plans moving forward is to test each product the same way. I will also rank or provide a TSR value which ranges from 1-5 one being the lowest and five being the highest star rating.

My plans moving forward is to deduct 0.1 - 1.0 star for every base feature that isn't present. Whereas other more subjective and nice to haves may be used to bolster a lower rating via a *Bonus* value of 0.10. One thing I've come to notice is that all of these weather radio's are not designed to operate on batteries for extended periods of time.

Given this insight I will however call out how long the unit will operate on my 2400 mA Duracell batteries. In the future I will append this thread with the charging validation tests to ensure each battery in place is *As Close* to the next to ensure consistent testing results.

Some elements may very well be *Subjective* like feel, fit & finish, style, etc. I will try very hard to not bias any product based on those criteria unless they pose a operational use issue. Like if they say its water proof and it can't even take a sprinkle of water.

Key things which I consider basic is support for the following: 7 NOAA channels. S.A.M.E. support, radio reception, loud and clear speaker, number of batteries required, visual indicators, viewing angle, antenna stability & noise, respects 1050 Hz EOM, S.A.M.E Single-Multi-All, clock etc.

Bonus points will be offered for offering the following in no specific order of importance: S.A.M.E custom filtering, supports rechargeable batteries, swivel antenna, auxiliary outputs, external antenna, external audio output, scrolling text rate, calendar, historic weather recall, or unique features.

Bonus points will be some what subjective as some radio's offer lots of *Unique* features so I will need to limit the maximum 0.10 points to some random value. My hopes are some of this information and long term testing may prove helpful to those interested in the same. It should be clearly noted all of the products listed here were purchased and not provided by any manufacture in case anyone was curious.

Lastly, I will reserve the *Summary* detail page for each product to either high light or provide more clarification on something I found interesting or important to know. As those reading this forum post already know I have no problem dropping the F bomb or showing my complete disdain when warranted on poor human ergonomic features or where something just doesn't make sense.

WEATHER RADIO - OREGON SCIENTIFIC WR8000:

The Oregon Scientific all hazard radio is a very basic weather radio with some unique features not found on other models / brands.

FEATURES:

- Supports all 7 NOAA alert weather channels
- Speaker: On, standby, mute control
- Includes a built in belt clip
- Digital back-lit clock display with alarm and snooze
- None adjustable green back lighting
- Time, day, month display
- Ambient temperature *F* display
- Freeze alert with audible / visual warning
- Analog compass for camping, hiking
- Dual colored green / red LED status indicator
- Accepts 3 standard AA batteries
- 8 position volume: 0-7 selection
- Low battery indicator

Height: 6.5 inches
Length: 6 inches
Width: 1.25 inches
Weight: 0.4 pounds





The Oregon Scientific WR8000 has eight soft rubber push buttons to invoke the various modes. At the top is a light bulb icon when pressed it will dimly light up the radios display for 5 seconds. The amount of light it outputs is extremely low and you would have to be in almost complete darkness to tell it was pressed.

To the right is the thermometer icon pressing this will display the current ambient temperature in F' degrees. There is no method to toggle this unit to show readings in C' or metric. The unit updates the temperature every 60 seconds.

On the left is a Off / On toggle which essentially turns the radio on or off. Below that is a three function mode selector if placed in mute only the dual color LED will flash and the *Alert* icon in the LCD display will light up.



In standby, should there be an alert condition the unit will come out of standby, flash its dual color LED and the voice announcement will commence. The voice alert will continue to run until you place it in mute or turn off the power button. As seen below there was an alert condition so the red LED lit up and the *ALERT* icon is displayed.



As noted the unit comes with a fixed belt clip which can not be removed.



This unit comes with a bubble compass which swings out to determine basic direction.



This unit can display the time, date, and ambient temperature.



This image capture is of the ambient temperature in the room at that time.



Unique to this device is a low temperature freeze alert function. When enabled the snow flake icon will appear in the LCD should the ambient air temperature drop to 34'F / 1.11'C the unit will sound an alert every 60 seconds and the snow flake icon will flash.



This device has a pretty good viewing angle from both top and bottom and from side to side.



SUMMARY:

Some of the con's of this unit are as follows in no specific order of importance. The weather radio when placed in the off mode continues to run. Meaning no matter what you do the LCD clock, temperature, will remain on.

When the unit is placed in the on position to receive weather alert broadcasts the unit will flash / blink its green LED every 3 seconds? This specific unit was extremely sensitive to having its rubber antenna touched. A simple caress or poke would make the radio erupt in static and noise.

The Oregon Scientific WR8000 has no method to be powered externally from a AC source. The average run time of this weather radio using high output Duracells (2400 mA) batteries was about 5-12 days depending upon use case and incoming alerts.

This radio uses odd alphabets to indicate the weather frequency in use instead of the standard channel 1-7?

The two recessed *Mode & Seek* buttons are near impossible to press with a finger and requires some kind of utensil to engage the buttons. This model has no other display options seen in many others and also doesn't support S.A.M.E broadcast messaging.

The unit does not offer a signal strength indicator at all so requires the person to just listen until you find a quite channel and location for final placement.

This specific model of weather radio also comes with one of the most brutal warranties I have ever seen on radio. The company Oregon Scientific only provides a limited 90 warranty on the hardware?!?

This doesn't speak well about the companies faith in the product now does it? What could possibly happen in 90 freaking days? Even the cheapest import item comes with a 12 month warranty so this makes me take pause.

When there is an alert condition over all it operates just fine and does respect the EOM (End Of Message) signal. During my review and testing several of the weekly broadcast alert tests were not received by this radio.

The sound quality is poor to below average for this radio but has decent volume to be heard in most environments. The LCD display can be viewed easily from all directions in normal lighting conditions.

Overall this is a basic weather radio that just works but doesn't really offer any advanced features which I will list out from the others below. To date the weather radio has received all of the weekly test broadcasts in my area so its soothing to know it actually works! The fit and finish of this radio is fine and the high visibility yellow / orange case makes it easy to locate.

The company indicates the device is water resistant and based on initial tests this seems to be true.

Because the case is hard plastic I don't suspect it will take a drop from average 4' height very well. Given it will live in a vehicle in both hot and cold it would more than likely crack if dropped.

But long term tests will prove this out or not so time will tell.

PROS: Easy to use, Nice small form factor & color, Clock & Date, Temperature indicator with freeze alert, Compass, Silent-Standby-Listen modes, Decent volume, Low battery with 30 second memory, Respects the EOM 1050 Hz signal, Water resistant.

CONS: No S.A.M.E, Can not shut off completely, Insane blinking green LED when on, No text messaging indicating the hazards, Antenna is pure sh^t, Recessed mode & seek buttons are terrible to use, No metric for (C) vs (F), Back-lit is useless, No alternate charging or power source, Silly ABC for weather channel selection, No method to filter or customize which alerts to receive or ignore, Eats batteries, No 3.5 mm audio output, Worst 90 day warranty in the business.

WEATHER RADIO - COBRA CWR200:

Below is a Cobra CWR200 emergency all weather alert radio which supports S.A.M.E alert messaging.

FEATURES:

- NOAA Auto all hazard alerts supports 60 emergency related events
- S.A.M.E technology for specific area messaging encoding
- 3 level / color alert LED indication and LCD icon
- Tornado / WX alert only modes
- Desktop AC charger and rechargeable NiMH battery
- USB input / output charging port for smartphones
- Continuous LED flash light
- Time, Alarm clock, Snooze
- Accepts 3 standard AA batteries
- Signal strength indicator
- Adjustable orange back lighting
- S.A.M.E 25 FIPS code memory
- S.A.M.E options of Single, Multi, All
- Detachable belt clip and lanyard
- Scrolling LCD message display
- Alert Type: Voice & Tone, Display
- Low battery audible / visual indicator
- None Volatile Memory - Recalls all settings
- 9 Position volume: 0-8 selection
- 2.5 mm headphone / speaker jack?

Height: 7.25 in. (184.15 mm)
Width: 2.45 in. (62.23 mm)
Depth: 1.34 in. (34.04 mm)
Weight: 0.28 lb (130.12 g)





The Cobra CWR200 comes with rechargeable three cell NiMH batteries, wrist lanyard, detachable belt clip, AC charging dock station. The supplied AC transformer outputs 5 volts @550 mA and can accept a line voltage of 100 - 240 VAC 50/60 Hz.





The manufacture bundles this unit with really cheap and low output batteries. As can be seen the output is a measly 800 mA?!?



This image capture illustrates what this unit can display when features / conditions have been enabled or met. The face of the unit has eight rubber buttons with good tactile feel. On the left are two orange volume keys, to the right are the channel select, in the center are the weather snooze and below that is the *Tornado Mode*.

On the lower left is the black power button which invokes the menu options and the only weather radio that can be completely powered off! The opposite side is the other black button for *Selection*.

The speaker is in the center which has a pretty cool grill affect.



The unit has a detachable plastic belt clip with a positive lock tab. The package comes with a soft nylon wrist lanyard for secure holding.



The Cobra CWR200 accepts three standard AA batteries and not a proprietary battery pack as many do. The belt clip must be removed if the battery compartment is to be accessed. As seen below the battery compartment has a nylon rope to allow battery replacement.

The compartment is extremely tight so the nylon rope is required to eject the batteries.



This unit has an auxiliary USB port to charge any random device like a smartphone. As indicated above this specific unit came with very low output batteries so don't count on this unit charging anything that requires lots of power.

The USB output port can be turned on and off via menu control.



The other side of the handset has the button to enable the LED flash light.



The LED flash light is positioned at the bottom of the handset. Of special note this unit will let you keep the light on when pressed just once. Some would ask why I called this out - because some units actually only let you turn on the flash light if you keep holding the blasted button?!?!

I see a use case for both situations but in most conditions the unit should allow permanent light output until turned off. The light output is only bright enough to see and perform local tasks within 2-5 feet. On the bottom are two charging tabs which stagger the LED flashlight which connects to the docking station.



The top of the unit has a fixed antenna and on the right are two ports. One is for a none standard 2.5 mm audio output for a headset to allow private and quiet listening or to a powered speaker. The other is the micro USB input port to allow charging of the weather radio when required.

All of this is covered by a rubber gasket plug which seems OK.



This specific model can turn on / off the following features: Key press beeper, back lighting, S.A.M.E. FIPS codes for 1-25 locations. This unit has a odd method to listen and monitor specific areas in that other weather radios like my Eton allow single, multi, all, alerts.

In this unit setting it to all 000000 will allow the radio to receive all alerts / hazards in the receiving area. I suppose if I left it in that mode it would mimic all county / areas. You can turn on-off any of the FIP's locations so this would allow multi use. Maybe its just a strange way of doing it and requires some thinking and planning whereas others simply have a toggle selection?!?

When alerts come in it will activate the colored LED to indicate the threat level from advisory (Yellow) watch (Orange) and warning (Red) in the center of the handset. The LCD display will also indicate which condition exists in written text to the right of the display.

Each alert or emergency condition is also displayed in the scrolling graphic LCD. There is no method to change the scrolling interval / speed at all. The manual indicates this radio can be set to receive the 1050 Hz tone which essentially means it will monitor all (Any) conditions for every location with in the reception area.

When enabled the WX Alert will be indicated in the display.

This unit has a unique feature which filters all alerts / hazards except Tornado's. When you press the *Tornado Mode* button if its activated the display will indicate *Block On* as seen below.



When Tornado Mode is disabled which allows the weather radio to receive all broadcast messages it will indicate *Block Off*.



The radio respects the 1050 Hz EOM (End of Message) signal meaning the different indicators will turn off and the audible voice message will turn off. The Cobra CWR200 has mixed reviews on various sites including Amazon. Some of the frequent complaints is the poor quality batteries which I must agree with. Next an odd behavior where if you place the radio on the charging dock it always shows its charging?!?!

Some have indicated this behavior has smoked a few battery packs. So right now I am trying out the top USB input port to see if there is a difference along with using high output (2400 mA) Duracell batteries.

My experience with the Cobra CWR200 thus far is the OEM batteries are not powerful enough to sustain this radio for any reasonable amount of time. A quick test indicated after a full charge the radio lasted about 3-4 days simply on standby. The manual indicates if a low battery condition exists the low battery indicator will flash and it will also beep before shutting off.

This week I was able to set up all the radio's to receive the weekly broadcast test signal which so happens to be on Wednesday's at 12:00 PM CST in my location. Below is how it appeared when the weekly test was initiated in my area.



This photo was taken in daylight to show case how well the display could be seen. The device requires pretty much a dead on center viewing angle. At night time when the orange back lit is on its near impossible to make out the text from any other position besides dead on.



SUMMARY:

The Cobra CWR200 will always show the signal strength, weather channel in use, battery level & charging status, USB power enabled, and alternate from S.A.M.E (ON) and the clock. The unit indicates it can store the historic weather events but they are not kept permanently and can not be recalled after the alert / hazard has past.

When any alert / hazard is present this device will come on to full volume. The unit has a volume settings from 0 - 8 which is very loud and can be heard in almost all conditions.

This radio uses a none standard (2.5 mm) audio jack?

Which I am hard pressed to test out because I don't have a plug converter that small. Unlike other weather radio's there is no ability to select from visual only, tone, voice & tone. The radio has no option to test the siren to ensure it operates and must wait for the weekly / monthly weather broadcast tests.

The user only has two choices which is standby or placing the unit at a zero volume level. Should there be an alert condition the radio will come on full blast at the volume (8) setting.

During my testing I found (IF) you changed the frequency channel it would erase the weekly broadcast message and the colored LED indicator would turn off? My plans moving forward is to test this same thing on the other radio's below to see if changing the weather channel impacts the alert status / scrolling notification.

I find this odd bug a little upsetting as this unit isn't very clear about how to review stored messages which in the paper manual says to push the *Select* key.

This unit has a single alarm clock which the user can set the hours and minutes with AM/PM.
The clock appears to be accurate and no measurable drift has been seen whether it be too fast or slow in keeping time. I haven't tried the USB charging port yet but intend to do so and will append this forum posts with the results.

Oddly this specific unit indicates channel 1 as being the station in use. Where as all of the other weather radio's I have are using channel 7?!?

Over all this device appears to be rugged and the case is made out of some kind of heavy duty rubber. It has a nice stealthy look along with clean lines and when sitting on the charging docking station looks very classy.

The sound quality is above average and thus far reception in my area has been just fine within the home. Lastly, this unit has a *Tornado Mode* which essentially turns off all hazards / alerts except a tornado event.

I truly hope to never have to enable this mode in my area because if I did life would be a hell of lot more interesting! The fit and finish of this device is above average and given the short duration testing and use so far it appears to be a solid weather radio minus the caveats I listed above.

The unit comes with a standard 12 month limited warranty.

PROS: Signal strength indicator, USB port, LED flash light, Tornado Mode (Filter), WX Alert Mode (All), LED & Text alert indicators, S.A.M.E support, Multi charging port, Decent sound quality, Robust build, Low battery indicator, Displays weather channel in use, Respects the EOM 1050 Hz signal, None Volatile Memory, Audio output jack, Can be completely powered off.

CONS: Eats batteries, Operates for 3-4 days on single charge, Charging dock doesn't seem to work, No long term memory to recall past weather events, No scrolling interval, No silent (display only ) mode only tone & voice, Convoluted local, multi, all alert setting options, No method to filter or customize which alerts to receive or ignore, 2.5 mm none standard audio output jack WTF, Will not operate using charging dock or USB input batteries must be present, Loss of NOAA status changing settings.

UPDATE AUG 30, 2016: I've confirmed this radio will operate on my high output 2400 mA Duracells for about 48 - 72 hours. Upon a low battery condition the unit will flash the low battery icon and it will beep every 30 seconds. One strange thing I noticed about this unit is if you remove the batteries from the radio and place it on the charging stand or use the USB power input the radio will not come on?

Its clear to me the unit was designed to trickle charge the batteries and will need to see if the system actually stops charging when full. Otherwise the many negative reviews on the Interwebs may be true in that it will smoke your rechargeable batteries over the long run.

[Teken]

WEATHER RADIO - MIDLAND HH54:

The Midland HH54 is a all weather radio which supports the following features listed below. This specific radio has been in production for many years.

FEATURES:

- NOAA Auto all hazard alerts supports 60 emergency related events
- S.A.M.E technology for specific area messaging encoding
- 3 color alert LED indication
- Home & Away modes
- Desktop AC charger and rechargeable NiMH battery
- Detachable belt clip and lanyard
- AC external power charging port
- Time, Alarm clock
- Accepts 3 standard AA batteries
- Adjustable orange back lighting from on vs momentary
- Adjustable key beep option
- S.A.M.E 9 FIPS code memory storage
- S.A.M.E options of Single, Multi, All
- Alert Type: Tone, Voice, Display
- Scrolling LCD message display
- None Volatile Memory - Recalls all settings
- Low battery visual indicator
- Tone alert test function
- 12 Position volume: 1-12
- 3.5 mm headphone / speaker jack

Dimensions - Width 3.0'' x Height 7.0'' x Deep 1.6''

When the Midland HH54 is first powered up it will display the firmware version which is installed into the hardware. In this case this specific model had a version 0.016 - I haven't researched if this is the latest or not.



Below is a image capture of all the icons and modes that will be displayed when required. From left to right is the low battery indicator, Menu, NOAA, Tone, Alarm, Home vs Travel modes. The face of the unit has four rubber buttons the center has the four way toggle, TR/HM, Select, and Menu.

At the very center bottom is the speaker grill.



The Midland HH54 comes with a detachable belt clip and a nylon wrist lanyard. The rear of the case has the two charging pins for the OEM proprietary battery pack.



To remove the back cover to access the battery compartment requires the belt clip to be removed. At the very bottom of the unit is a plastic clasp which needs to be unbuckled. As can be seen with the battery cover removed it takes either the OEM battery pack or three standard AA batteries of your choice.

When the unit loses AC power the battery icon on the upper left of the display will appear. When the unit is running on battery power and the unit becomes critical the battery icon will appear and the upper LED will turn red?

My initial battery run down tests indicated the Midland HH54 could operate using my Duracell 2400 mA NiMH batteries for 72-76 hours.

This unit also includes a nylon battery pull string as this area is extremely tight to remove the batteries.



On the right hand side of the radio is the volume up and down selector. The Midland HH54 offers 12 discreet volume levels but has no zero level. This is quite OK because the user can actually set the volume they wish and place it in standby.

Should an alert condition happen the radio will come on at the defined volume level set by the user. The volume button offers a positive tactile feel and click when depressed.



The other side has a 3.5 mm headphone jack for private, quiet listening, or output to a powered speaker system. It also includes a 9 volt AC / DC power port which only powers the radio and does not recharge installed batteries inside.

It appears the proprietary rear (circular) pins must be used with the OEM battery pack which obviously has the charging pins. So what this means is even with the radio plugged into the wall you will still need to inspect, measure, and recharge the batteries from time to time.



The top of the weather radio has a fixed rubber antenna next to it is WX Snooze and On-Off button. As noted above the user can preset the listening volume and then press the WX button which essentially places it in standby mode.

The Snooze is to place the single alarm clock into snooze mode for a 9 minute defined period.



The On-Off toggle button only turns off the weather radio but does not actually power down the unit completely. When selected the unit will continue to display the current time.

This unit does not indicate the day, month, year.

TIME DISPLAY:



Below is the required weekly broadcast reception tests. This unit has a tricolor LED just left and above the Midland logo. It only lights up yellow (Advisory) orange (Watch) and red (Warning) the unit does not indicate the conditions in text or icons in the LCD.

I have also confirmed that if you change the weather band frequency it has no impact on the active weather status indicator or the scrolling text message as was found in the Cobra unit.



The Midland HH54 has an average viewing angle either when back-lit or not. When not back-lit and viewed during normal lighting the LCD can be viewed from most angles except from above. At night the same experience is seen minus the fact the side view is near impossible to see.



This unit doesn't offer a method to adjust the scrolling text speed at all. The unit can be programmed to remain fully lit at all times or for a 5 second momentary lit mode.





The Midland HH54 has the ability to turn off the selection beep sound.



The unit offers three modes of operations from tone, voice, display. If the unit is in tone mode it will sound for 5 minutes or until you press any button.

TONE:



In voice mode the unit will sound out a tone alert for 8 seconds and the voice announcement will play for 5 minutes.

VOICE:



In the display mode it will simply light up the colored LED and the scrolling text will be seen the unit will not make any sound in this mode.

DISPLAY:



This unit does not have the ability to filter or customize the alerts / hazards at all. The unit also doesn't seem to store the last events in long term memory either?!?

The Midland HH54 offers a unique feature of *Home vs Travel* mode. When the TR/HM button is pressed for more than 3 seconds it will scan all seven weather channels. If at anytime the unit detects a weak signal it will restart the scan process until it locks on to a strong weather band.

One unique feature this radio has is actually displaying the weather radio channel frequency in use. Many if not all weather radios do not offer this insight or option which is normally just listed on a paper manual or sticker.

RADIO FREQUENCY:



The Midland HH54 weather radio includes the options to filter but not customize the S.A.M.E region notifications which are: Single, Multi, Any (All)

SINGLE:



MULTIPLE:



ANY:



The Midland HH54 also includes a method to initiate a siren self test within the radio. So it does not rely only on the weekly / monthly weather broadcast tests to confirm.



SUMMARY: Over all this Midland HH54 radio is pretty chunky but not too bad in the hands and the rubber body feels very sturdy. The sound quality is above average and has a high output vs many others. The 3.5 mm audio output jack was very clear using various headsets when compared to the AcuRite. I'm not too sure why so many of these weather radios don't have the ability to retain *Historic Events* like my trusty First Alert WX-150?

One strange thing I noticed about this radio is that when the weather radio is activated to be listened the clock isn't visible. When the radio is turned on the device indicates *Weather* on the screen and there is no method to force the unit to display the time unless you shut off the radio.

This specific model also remembers the user settings when the batteries need to be replaced or if there is a complete power failure the only thing that needs to be set is the time. The HH54 will also operate with out batteries installed when powered by the 9 volt DC adaptor.

Regardless so far this weather radio seems to be pretty solid in both fit and finish. Having said this the Interwebs are filled with many negative reviews similar to the Cobra unit I reviewed above. Many of the complaints are similar in the supplied battery is pure sh^t. The charging is suspect and sometimes the LCD goes blank with out notice.

Since I have only had this weather radio for a short time I can't say either way until it happens or fails.

This unit comes with a standard 12 month limited warranty.

PROS: Sound quality is above average and is loud, 3.5 mm audio output is clean, Home vs Travel mode, Adjustable back lighting, Charging capability, Solid construction and finish, Tone-Voice-Display option, Single-Multi-All S.A.M.E option, Displays weather channel frequency, Respects the EOM 1050 Hz signal, None Volatile Memory, Can operate with out batteries in place.

CONS: No long term historic memory recall, No scrolling speed adjustment, No icon / text level alert, No weather channel in use value, No method to filter or customize which alerts to receive or ignore, Requires proprietary battery & charger, Can not be completely shut off.

WEATHER RADIO - ACURITE 08550:

The next weather alert radio is from Acurite model 08550. This weather radio offers so many features that this review will take awhile and fill this entire post.

FEATURES:

- NOAA Auto all hazard alerts supports over 60 emergency related events
- S.A.M.E technology for specific area messaging encoding
- 3 color alert LED indication
- Desktop AC external power supply
- Time, DST, Day, Month, Year, Time zone
- Accepts 3 standard AA batteries
- Blue back lighting from on-off vs momentary
- Quick Setup & Manual Setup
- S.A.M.E Alert / Hazard Filtering
- S.A.M.E 10 FIPS code memory storage
- S.A.M.E options of Single, Multi, All
- Detachable belt clip - Lanyard hole
- Scrolling LCD message display & text rate
- Low battery visual indicator & AC power status
- None Volatile Memory - Recalls all settings
- Alert Type: Voice & Tone, Display
- 8 Position volume: 1-8
- 3.5 mm headphone / speaker jack

Dimensions: Width 2.75" x Height 7.25" x 1.0" Depth

The AcuRite 08550 alert weather radio is very similar in size and build as the Midland unit. Which means its kinda chunky but not too large where someone would say its huge.

Starting from the top of the face of the unit this weather radio has a three color LED status light bar.

The three colors light up when an Advisory (Yellow) Watch (Orange) Warning (Red) are present. One special feature of this weather radio is that it actually displays the NOAA codes like BLW (Blizzard) etc.

The unit will of course also display the alert / hazard in its scrolling LCD display. The front of the unit has seven rubber buttons to invoke the various settings and features.

The speaker grill is directly below in the center.



The AcuRite 08550 comes with a detachable belt clip and a lanyard hole next to the fixed antenna. The rear of the case has the two metal pins for the OEM proprietary docking station. I am not sure why the AcuRite company didn't go the extra step to incorporate a charging station which allowed rechargeable batteries.

This seems like a gross over sight by senior leadership in the company. The simple fact you made a stand, offered a plug, designed a proprietary rear pin docking station. Why wouldn't you have spent the $0.57 for the charging circuit you dumb people.



This model accepts three standard AA batteries and the vendor indicates when running on batteries alone will operate only for three days? I am not sure what this duration is based on but at this very moment I am performing a operational run test with 2400 mA Duracell batteries and will report back how long it operates using them.



The AcuRite 08550 comes with a docking station which supplies power to the weather radio when not in use. The vendor indicates that the docking station is designed to power only the radio and not offer charging capability.

The supplied AC / DC transformer provides 4.5 VDC @ 300 mA.



Like many other weather radio's on the market this unit has a very restricted display. When the unit is not lit you can see the display from side to side up to 35-40 degrees. If however you intend to view it slightly off center while viewing it from the bottom / top. This photo will offer you the end results.

As you can see in this photo the back-lit was enabled but the viewing angle doesn't get any better when lit.



A very unique feature of this weather radio is the fact it actually tells you when a condition will end / terminate?!? Of all the weather radio's I have used and on hand none of them have ever offered this incredible insight. This photo indicates the weekly weather broadcast test signal will terminate at 3:00 PM.



In the past I honestly couldn't tell how long the test were or when a weather alert condition / hazard would end. Now, with this radio I will have that insight and capability moving forward.



This unit has three alert options from silenced, auto on, on. When placed in *Silenced* mode advisory and watch conditions will not be played but the radio will still display the condition via the colored LED and scrolling text. If there is a change in weather conditions to warning the audio portion will automatically be invoked.



When the unit is placed in *Auto On* if any condition should be present the radio will change its colored LED to reflect the condition and will start to play the automated broadcast. The specific messages will scroll across the LCD screen. As far as I can tell once the unit has been tripped the radio continues to play but will need to verify this later.



When placed in the on mode the user can listen to the weather radio broadcast indefinitely.



This weather radio has a 8 position listening volume but no zero / off. Unlike many other radio's this AcuRite 08550 uses a little mans head with bars to indicate volume level. In this photo the little speaker head has one bar lit up.



This radio has three lighting modes which depends upon how its being used at the time. When the unit is held and if any button is pressed it will remain lit for 10 seconds. If the device is placed on the docking station the back lighting will remain on. The back lighting can be disabled while on the docking station simply by pressing the OK button.

Regardless of the lighting modes if there is ever an alert condition the back lighting will come on. When the radio is placed in the docking station the lightning bolt icon will be lit. As can be seen the radio always indicates the weather channel in use, time, speaker volume, and ready.

The *Ready* icon is AcuRites method to indicate proper weather channel reception instead of the universal antenna symbol?!?



For those of you who have read this far you will noticed in the CON'S section I go out of my way to indicate if a weather radio has the capability to *Filter / Customize* the hazard alert conditions. This feature is very common in the table top versions of weather radio's but for what ever reason this same feature is not present in the portable versions?!?

Fortunately, this specific model does indeed have the capability to turn on-off various alerts, hazards, and threats. Unfortunately it appears the AcuRite company didn't go far enough and dropped the virtual ball in this area. As any *Warning* condition can not be disabled even if you are not in such a weather prone area.

Say you live in the desert how exactly is a blizzard, hail, snow, hurricane event relevant? To be fair to AcuRite assuming you actually did live in the desert or other area where the alerts weren't applicable.

You simply wouldn't receive them anyways . . .

I call this out because there are certain conditions I still want to disable but have no method to do so.



Probably one of the best features of this weather alert radio is the fact it actually has a scrolling text rate! Until you have used any device which has a predefined scrolling text you will never truly appreciate how important and valuable this feature is. Some competitive radios either scroll too slow vs others scroll slightly too fast.

With the AcuRite 08550 the end user can adjust the scrolling speed text to their needs.





Another unique feature not seen on pretty much 99% of all weather alert radio's is automatic D.S.T. Twice a year every device in my home needs to be reset to respect the time change we all seemed to be suckered to do!

This fantastic weather radio incorporates this feature as standard issue.



Below are the fields that need to be entered to allow the device to track the proper DST event.



As can be seen the company took some time to consider this feature but have to slam them on the very fact if they went this far. How come this device can't tell you the actual day, month, year in the display?



Why doesn't it have a standard alarm clock either like WTF?!?!



The AcuRite 08550 weather alert radio offers 4 memory channels to recall *Active* historic messages. Like many others listed above for what ever reason not one of these companies include some kind of on board memory storage to recall the historic weather events?!?

I have to take pause and say once again WTF is wrong with these companies?



Lastly, this weather radio has probably the most flexible set up process I have ever seen in a device. Meaning the engineers thought about the new user vs those with experience. The AcuRite 08550 has a *Quick Setup* mode which essentially walks you through each mode asking simple YES-NO questions.

The entire process takes about 60 seconds or less. For those who are experienced users you also have the manual method to enter the very same and skip through the menu's etc. I haven't seen that before on a weather radio so hats off to the engineers at AcuRite for making the setup process so easy and painless.

SUMMARY: Overall I like this weather alert radio from AcuRite. Given all of the unique features it offers like the Quick Setup, NOAA ID, adjustable scrolling text, and dual alerts this radio is a solid buy. I can't say at the moment how it will operate over the long term but will reply back with more use. The sound quality is above average coming out of the main speakers but the 3.5 mm audio jack using various headphones was noisy.

I am quite looking forward to not having to adjust the time when DST happens.

This specific model also remembers the user settings when the batteries need to be replaced or if there is a complete power failure the only thing that needs to be set is the time.

As noted up above I have confirmed this weather alert radio does indeed eat through batteries and only lasts about three days while running on them. Another test I performed was to confirm the device would continue to operate on 120 VAC with out the batteries in place. This wasn't something I had considered before until I noticed the Cobra unit didn't?!?

So essentially the AcuRite weather radio will operate just fine running on 120 VAC with out the need for batteries inside. Moving forward this will be the standard test for all of the units I review.

This device comes with a standard 12 month limited warranty.

PROS: Sound quality is above average and is loud, 3.5 mm audio / speaker output, Adjustable back lighting, Solid construction and finish, Silenced-Auto Voice-Display option, Single-Multi-All S.A.M.E option, Scroll text speed, DST time adjustment, S.A.M.E Filter custom alerts, NOAA Codes Display, Signal indicator, Dual LED & LCD alerts, Quick Setup & Manual Setup modes, Respects the EOM 1050 Hz signal, None Volatile Memory - Recalls all settings, Can operate with out batteries in place.

CONS: Eats batteries, Operates for 3 days on single charge, No long term historic memory recall, No rechargeable power option, No alarm clock, No day-month-year display, 3.5 mm audio output is noisy, Can not be completely turned off.

[Teken]

WEATHER RADIO - ETON ZONE GUARD:

Early this year I wanted to try out a newer model of table top weather radio which had some modern looks and feel. One of the units I decided upon was the Eton American Red Cross Zone Guard.

FEATURES:

- NOAA Auto all hazard alerts supports 60 emergency related events
- S.A.M.E technology for specific area messaging encoding
- 3 color alert LED indication
- Desktop AC power supply & Indicator
- Time, Alarm clock, Snooze
- Accepts 3 standard AA batteries
- Signal strength indicator (?)
- Blue none adjustable LCD back lighting
- S.A.M.E. 25 FIPS code memory
- S.A.M.E options of Single, Multi, All
- S.A.M.E advanced broadcast message filtering
- Scrolling LCD message display
- 17 Position volume: 0-16 selection
- Alert Type: Tone, Voice & Tone
- Low battery visual indicator
- Adjustable two position stand & wall mount
- Telescopic fixed antenna
- AM / FM / WB digital radio
- 6 AM / FM radio presets

The Eton Zone Guard has to be one of the most elegant, thin, and modern looking weather radio's on the market today. The front of the unit has multi-function LCD display which incorporates 15 plastic buttons.

Starting on the upper left is the power button which serves only to turn the AM / FM / WB radio on. Below that is the Alert On-Off button to silence incoming weather alert broadcasts. In the center is the *Menu* button with the various arrow keys to navigate to features and options in the unit. On the far right is the *Alarm* to activate the daily alarm clock feature - below that is the *Snooze* button which offers 5 minutes of snooze.

At the very bottom of the primary keys are the six AM / FM channel memories. Lastly, in the center is the speaker which has a 90 dB siren tone.





The Eton Zone Guard comes with a 5 VDC @ 150 mA AC/DC power adapter, two way adjustable stand quick start guide and full users manual.





The unit has a 15.5" telescopic fixed antenna and can not swivel so placement is critical for the best reception if the unit is to be placed on a desk or mounted to a wall.



The unit accepts three standard AA sized batteries and unfortunately the Eton company didn't think about incorporating a charging circuit to use rechargeable batteries. It should be noted in my testing and review of this product my unit would not accept the use of high output 2400 mA Duracell NiMh batteries?

The unit would immediately indicate a low battery condition and soon turn off. Placing regular alkaline batteries resulted in normal operations. My plan moving forward is to take this unit apart and see what's inside and perhaps find a solution to the voltage detecting circuit.

When the radio loses main AC power and operates on batteries the unit will display (1) bar under the battery level. I will need to confirm if it blinks or makes any kind of noise when the system becomes critical.

The rear of the unit also has two mounting holes for wall placement.



On the left side of the unit are the WB Alert button, weather band, AM-FM, and memory button. This specific model weather radio has a very odd way of enabling and using the hardware which will be discussed later below.



The other side of the weather radio has the up and down volume selection buttons. This radio has a 17 position volume (0-16) selection. This radio displays a most annoying trait which is when you set the volume to decent level to hear the weather radio band. The very same volume setting for AM-FM will literally blast you out of your chair when enabled?!?

VOLUME BUTTONS:



So if you have the WB set for 8 which is a nice comfortable volume level. That same level will blast you out of the chair and must be reduced to a much lower volume setting. I'm not sure why there is such a huge discrepancy of volume but potential buyers should be aware of this annoying trait.

FM CHANNEL:



It should be noted based on the above both the radio and weather broadcast portion can be easily heard within a home. The AM reception is pretty sub par in this radio but the FM portion is pretty decent given the cheap speaker that many companies use.

AM CHANNEL:



As noted up above this weather radio has some odd traits which takes a bit to get used to when compared to other more common methods of operations. In this photo you can see the beautiful blue LCD back lighting. Currently this radio is (OFF) but like so many other products on the market *Off* doesn't actually mean off.

Meaning pressing the power button on the upper left simply disables the radio. The clock and alarm clock will continue operate thus sucking up power. When in the clock mode the unit will display the time, battery level, AC status, and S.A.M.E option(s).



This is the same photo with out the blue back lighting which can not be adjusted. When any button is pressed or when an alert message is detected the unit will light up for about 15 seconds. The LCD display has a pretty good viewing angle from both side to side and shockingly from top to bottom!

One thing to note is how strange Eton decided to render the time and (AM-PM). Normally if a unit could display 24 hour military time a leading zero would be fine. This clock doesn't have that ability yet there is a leading zero? Next is seeing the AM-PM preceding the actual time why isn't it placed at the end?



This unit has the ability to select single, multi, and all counties for S.A.M.E broadcast alerts.

SINGLE:



MULTIPLE:



ALL:



You also have the option to select how a broadcast alert message will be rendered from tone, and tone & voice. There is no method to select display only muting out any of the sounds in this unit.

It should be noted this specific model when tripped will follow the above options but will continue to emit the alert voice message until turned off by using the alert on-off button. I believe there is a use case for both methods but I personally like having the unit remain on so I know something has occurred.



The Eton Zone Guard also incorporates a single alarm clock and has a 5 minute snooze option.



One of the best features in this weather alert radio is having the ability to filter (customize) and disable weather alerts not applicable to your area or use case. I am not sure why this feature is so hard to incorporate into weather radio's but if you have an option to buy one with or with out.

Buy one with this filtering option . . .

I just think its insane to not have the ability to disable volcano alert messages in the Canadian shield!



Noted way above this weather radio has a odd method to enable basic monitoring. The unit first needs to be turned on by pressing the power switch. Doing so will automatically turn on the WB station this allows you to listen to the broadcast indefinitely. To place the unit in standby you must press the top (side) WB Alert button.

Once both steps have been completed you will see the image below. Which is WB on the left of the screen, the weather channel selected in my case its (7), and Alert WB at the center of the screen.

For those who have never owned a weather alert radio this description may sound odd and not a issue. But I can assure you if you take the time to read the hundreds of reviews from various web sites including Amazon this method to enable weather alert monitoring has confused and tripped up many people.

The reason I believe is the fact you can not see the time (clock) if the WB is active. This is similar to the Midland HH54 handheld weather radio. Sometimes I really wonder about the engineers that design these things because its obvious there isn't a lot of common sense!



One of the reason(s) I wanted to buy this weather alert radio (besides looking sexy) was the massive LED alert indicator. As can be seen this device has one of the largest LED indicators on the market today. This photo was taken during the weekly broadcast tests which happen every Wednesday at 12:00 PM CST.

One thing to note about this specific model is that it does not follow the industry standard color notification. In all weather alert radios an advisory is yellow in the Eton Zone Guard its rendered as green.



Last week our area was inundated with endless thunderstorms and high winds. As can be seen the alert threshold was red indicated a warning condition. The aftermath of hundreds of homes with snapped trees, missing roof shingles, and downed power lines.



SUMMARY: Over all I like this weather alert radio from Eton but there are some very minor / moderate things which bother me. I like the fact the device has both AM-FM channels as its important to be able to listen local news and radio broadcasts which could provide much more insight about conditions in the area.

I like very much the unit has the capability to filter (customize) the S.A.M.E alert messages. Very few weather alert radios offer the ability to single button enable: single, multi, all county messaging so its welcome to see it on this product. The display is above par for most weather radio's in that the viewing angle is decent in all situations. I wish it had the ability to adjust the scroll rate and enable the back lighting to be permanently on.

But that is just a personal choice I like to see and not very standard in the industry. My biggest gripe about this radio is that it eats through batteries like so many other weather radios! I find it shocking in 2016 that none of these companies have enough skill to design a basic radio that can run on batteries for at least 30 days.

My personal experience with any of these weather radio's whether it be portable vs table top is they offer from 3-15 days at most and that is using high output batteries! Having said that this radio has one of the lowest standby consumption figures of the radio's I have on hand. The Dash Box measures about 0.7 - 1.2 watts depending upon settings and active use.

This unit is very sensitive to placement and this could be resolved simply by incorporating a swivel antenna but the company didn't think that far. I don't really care for the fact the *Advisory* notification LED is a none standard green LED vs the industry standard of yellow.

I do however like the fact this radio remains sounding when an alert message has come and gone. This allows the end user the ability to know something has happen while away etc. Lastly, I don't know why so many of these weather radio's can't store the alerts / hazards for later historic recall.

Every one of them seem to only hold the event when an alert / hazard is *Currently* in place?!? Perhaps I am just spoiled with my old school First Alert WX-150!

This specific model only remembers the S.A.M.E FIPS user code when power is lost unlike the other radio's which retain all program settings. So its paramount the batteries be fresh and fully operational otherwise you will be reprogramming this radio over again.

As noted up above I have confirmed this weather alert radio does indeed eat through batteries and only lasts about 3-4 days while running on them. Another test I performed was to confirm the device would continue to operate on 120 VAC with out the batteries in place. This wasn't something I had considered before until I noticed the Cobra unit didn't?!?

One final item to mention is that when the Eton Zone Guard is plugged in it will immediately show the battery status even with out batteries inside?!? I find this behavior suspect and think there may be something wrong with the design or electronics. Because my expectations is that the battery indicator would only show up (IF) the batteries were in place.

This device comes with a standard 12 month limited warranty.

PROS: Modern thin profile styling, Excellent massive LED indicator, AM-FM radio, S.A.M.E filtering, Voice message continue to run after initial alert, Loud speaker volume, Respects the EOM 1050 Hz signal, Can operate with out batteries in place.

CONS: Eats batteries and doesn't seem to like NiMh, No charging circuit, Telescopic antenna can not swivel, No long term historic memory recall, Crazy WB vs radio volume, Odd WB activation, No scrolling text speed, No back lighting options, Does not use standard advisory LED color, No external antenna, No speaker output, Doesn't remember any settings except the FIPS codes upon power loss, Battery indicator is suspect when powered by AC.

[Teken]

WEATHER RADIO - FIRST ALERT WX-150:

For those who have taken the time to read this massive rolling thread (Thank You). You will have noted I referenced the First Alert WX-150 weather alert radio many times. There are many reasons why I love this radio so lets provide a review along with insight about this fantastic old school unit.

FEATURES:

- NOAA Auto all hazard alerts supports (over) 60 emergency related events
- NOAA: Supports 4 additional NOAA ID's
- S.A.M.E technology for specific area messaging encoding
- 3 color alert LED indication
- Desktop AC power supply & LED Indicator
- Time, Date, Day, Month, Year, 2 Alarm clocks, Snooze
- Accepts 4 standard AA batteries & Charging Circuit
- Orange adjustable LCD back lighting
- S.A.M.E 20 FIPS code memory
- S.A.M.E options of Single, Multi, All
- S.A.M.E advanced broadcast message filtering
- Auxilarry output to strobe, vibrator, dry contact
- Scrolling LCD message display
- None Volatile Memory - Recalls all settings
- 17 Memory Historic Weather Alert Recall EEPROM
- 8 Position main volume: 1-7 selection
- 9 Position siren volume: 1-8 selection
- Sentry Mode - Validates Weekly / Monthly Test
- Alert Type: Tone, Voice & Tone
- Low battery visual indicator
- Telescopic (Adjustable) antenna
- Table & wall mount
- Siren Test

A very long time ago when my home automation and security journey began. I always knew weather was something I wanted to incorporate into my systems. After many months of surfing, reading, and researching my findings where the First Alert weather radio was the hardware to have.

The problem back then was this radio was end of life and no longer being produced by First Alert. So undaunted my goal was to find this radio by what ever means and after many months a EBAY listing had three of these radio's all going for a song!

I am not sure what happen from the time I moved to breaking out all the box's but as usual something grew feet and walked away. Meaning the three units I had on hand now only two remained?!?



As noted many times in the previous weather radio threads the First Alert WX-150 is pretty old school and the looks just show it. I am sure it was considered pretty sleek for its time but when compared to my Eton Zone Guard it looks pretty dated.

Regardless, this massive brick of a unit just works and is the cornerstone my weather alert monitoring system. As can be seen the face of the unit starting at the top in the grey area is a massive two inch speaker which is very clear and loud. Below that is the LCD display which I will detail in great length later on.

Next is the four rows of colored LED's for the following: Green (AC - Battery) Yellow (Advisory) Orange (Watch) Red (Warning).

To the left are the soft rubber alarm hold, menu hold, listen, save, to the right is the volume up and previous - next function keys.

At the very bottom is a massive *Snooze* button.



The First Alert WX-150 can be placed on a table which has soft none marring rubber feet or wall mounted the over all dimensions are 7-7/8 long, 4-3/4 wide, 2-1/2" deep.



The back of the battery cover indicates the 7 weather channel frequency.



This weather radio accepts 4 standard sized AA batteries for back up in case of a power failure and of special note this model clearly accepts *Rechargeable Batteries* and has a selection switch to do so. I've mentioned the need for this feature many times up above and should be standard issue for all weather radio devices in 2016!

The WX-150 also has a none volatile memory to store all the user settings. So no need to go through the entire setup process should the unit ever lose complete power. The maker claims the radio will provide over 50 hours using alkaline batteries and over 12 hours on NiCad / NiMH batteries.

Since I am using 2400 mA high output NiMH batteries my battery run time has been averaging 48 -72 hours plus depending on use and idle time. When the radio loses power and operates on battery the green *Power* LED will blink every second. Once the batteries become critical the battery icon will illuminate in the LCD.



To think people way back in the day had the common sense and gumption to do it right the first go round?!?!



The weather radio is normally powered by a 12 VDC @300 mA power supply transformer. Because this device was made so long ago the power electronics are not very efficient and thus consumes more than 4 watts of power while in standby.



This weather radio includes something I truly believe should be standard issue and that is a telescopic and *Adjustable* 18" swivel antenna! In every case where a fixed placement is a must having a adjustable antenna resolves many signal reception issues.

Another major highlight of this weather radio is an external output trigger. This single port is what allows me to integrate weather alerts / hazards in my home. Below I will detail what it connects to which allows me so much protection and insight.



Besides the auxiliary trigger output port this little black box is what contains all the magic. This extra accessory is one of the hardest parts to come by in the used after market assuming you could just find the radio to start with!

Unique to this device is a simple red momentary push button. This little red button is intended to simply test the outputs of the device to ensure the internal battery is fine along with validating the signal has left the box.



This unit simply takes one standard 9 volt battery and based on my personal experience lasts for years.



The little black box has three outputs which can be attached various devices which I will detail below.



In this photo you can see the black box is connected to a high output strobe light. What is not in the picture is a high impact vibrator which is intended to alert a person physically. Both of these are used in my home but the third output is connected to a multi relay switch which transmits the signal to the Insteon home automation network and to the security alarm system.

One weather alert system is dedicated solely to communicate extreme hazards in my location from tornado, flood, biological, nuclear, etc. Only the most severe threats are filtered inbound to the system to ensure false alerts are kept to a minimum.



One of many special features of this weather alert radio is the inclusion of and capability to add 4 new or unknown NOAA ID codes into the system. I can tell you from many years of reading and having weather radio's I have never laid eyes on the same in any other brand of radio, none.

This again speaks volumes of the engineers who had the consideration, planning, and for thought to include such a capability! To date I have never had to add in any new NOAA ID's because as far as I can tell every known hazard is included into the radio?!?

ADD ALERTS:



The unit has the capability to activate and invoke a manual test of the siren / tone in the radio to ensure its fully operational.

SIREN TEST:



The siren volume is independent can be adjusted and has eight positions from 1-8. The volume gradient are evenly spaced and work great for any listening environment.

SIREN VOLUME:



Very unique to this radio and not commonly seen in others is the ability to set the actual date which I will detail more later below.

SET DATE TIME:



As you can clearly see this weather radio displays the actual day of the week, day, month, year. Imagine some old timer had the common sense and for thought to include such a simple thing in a weather radio! Yet you will be hard pressed to find this same feature anywhere else in 2016.

You will also notice the AM-PM is correctly placed at the end of the time and not preceding it like other moronic weather Eton radio.



The WX-150 can be programmed to accept 20 S.A.M.E FIPS codes into the radio.



The system has two alarm clocks which is not very common in today's hardware offerings. During emergencies and natural disasters the two alarm clocks are enabled to remind me of back up tasks that need to be done. Having the ability to set two independent time intervals is simply fantastic and just plain useful.

ALARM 1:



The system allows you to enable and select alarm 1, alarm 2, or both independent of one another.

ALARM 2:



The push button key beeps can be silenced if required which is quite loud and annoying.



The system also has the ability to enable the orange back lighting indefinitely. When placed in momentary mode the back lighting will remain on for 15 seconds on any key press. When there is a alert / hazard alert broadcast message the back light will also come on for 15 seconds.

BACK LIGHT:



The First Alert WX-150 has two alert modes which are tone, tone & voice. This is represented in the display with the little mans head with the speaker.



Indicated many times in the weather radio review is not having the ability to filter (customize) the S.A.M.E alert messages that pertain to a users location / use case. Below you can see I don't have this problem with the WX-150 and below are many filtered alerts in my system.

I only wish my home was in the tropics but since its not I can at least disable the warning!



Even though I live in the cold aszz north I really don't have to worry about icebergs!



As noted one unit is dedicated to monitor only severe hazards in my location such as tornadoes, blizzards, floods, wild fire, biological, nuclear, dam breach,

TORNADO:



FIRE:



DAM WATCH:



Of special interest is the child abduction statement which has been heard only once in my time. I know at this point we are so connected in the world but having a dedicated hardware device to let you know something like this is happening is quite humbling.



Its safe to say this message comes up every year in my area so having some prewarning has been a God send to me and the family.

BLIZZARD:



We've had two cases of a boil advisory in our city but luckily it has never increased past that to a warning.

BOIL WATER:



Again, this fantastic radio has been the only hardware device to offer historic recall of weather events which are time stamped, and indicates the NOAA ID. To think someone had the common sense to include a $0.25 EEPROM to save this information for later user review.

I don't know what this guy / team gets paid but hope they are well taken care of financially because once again you won't find this to be very common in today's radios. The two images below are the same weather alert but I wanted to show the separate page.

The system can store 17 historic events in its memory and follows a FIFO methodology.



Weekly broadcast alert test which happens every Wednesday at 12:00 PM CST.



This was the alert event that past our way today.



Last year as I continued to work on my mini bunker and other preps our area was having some of the worst inclement weather not seen in decades. As the day rolled on the system advanced from advisory, watch, and warning.



Below the weather alert system had been increased to a full warning.



Moments later an advisory was issued because two of 45 plus monitoring stations were having technical issues due to the extreme weather.



The following day at 12:19 PM a Tornado watch was issued at the outer perimeter of city and outlaying counties.



At 4:46 PM that very same day my system came blaring on and the entire house was fully lit the house went into automatic lock down. About 30 seconds after this started air raid sirens which I have never ever heard in my time living in this city. Could be heard, I don't believe anyone can honestly say they know how that feels until they actually live through it.



By the grace of God and random luck the tornado that touched down in the city had quickly dissipated and changed direction. Every year there are dozens of tornado sighting in our province but rarely if ever is there one seen in the metro area where I live.

Having gone through that experience last year is why I have pushed forward with having more portable weather radio's along with hardware that allows me to interconnect them easily to my home automation / security alarm system.

The one weakness I had found was not having a external PA system that could be heard outside clearly. Its easy to say just bring a portable weather radio but the reality its not going to happen when you're in the back yard doing chores etc.

Its rarely top of mind or when a person is deep into a project its the last thing on their minds. So my plans moving forward has been to test some self powered mini speakers which are going to be attached to the portable weather radio's. Currently I am testing out which unit will remain playing the alert broadcast via its headphone / speaker output after the initial 1050 Hz warning tone.

As it does me no good if I can't hear the broadcast message from where ever I am and have to press a random button. If that was the case I might as well just carry the radio with me in the back yard, garage, where ever!

SUMMARY: Well what can be said that hasn't already been written about this weather radio? It goes with out saying its my primary weather radio and has served me quite well over the years. All of the listed features up above truly make it reference unit for all others to compare to.

I have also confirmed that if you change the weather band frequency it has no impact on the active weather status indicator or the scrolling text message as was found in the Cobra unit.

Of great value and unique to this radio is the *Sentry Mode*. If the radio does not receive the weekly / monthly broadcast alert in 10 days it will declare a *Advisory* fault and indicate a scrolling message *10 DAY ALERT SENTRY* .

This ensures the radio is properly set up and located within the home where reception is adequate.

The only real gripe I have with this specific model weather radio are the following.

I have to gather given the old age and period of when it was produced the solid state electronics were not as high tech as today's. Therefor this radio when sitting idle consumes about 4 watts 24.7.365. Smaller quibbles are the fact this radio doesn't have any external speaker or antenna jacks.

Even though I have never had reception issues it would be really nice to hook it up to my high gain antenna system. Having an external audio jack would have allowed me to hook it up to the PA system that is currently under way. But since I have the portable ones on hand this will be my next best choice besides the fact I can always bring them with me should it be required.

The last nit is it would have been really great to see a AM-FM radio to be included. As it would allow extended monitoring using local news broadcasts. Having said that there are many jack of all trades - master of none products out there. So, if it was deemed a compromise or not worth the cost benefits I am OK with the exclusion of said AM-FM radio receiver.

The First Alert (Sima) all hazards / weather alert radio is simply a solid product which has been thoughtfully designed and engineered from the ground up. I highly recommend this radio for anyone who is in the market for one assuming you can still find a few NOS / Used. The unit isn't very modern looking but since its probably going to be mounted in some random place does it really matter?!?!

This device comes with a standard 12 month limited warranty.

PROS: Solid construction and reliability, Two Alarm Clocks, Calendar, NOAA: Supports 4 additional NOAA ID's, None Volatile Memory, Telescopic Swivel Antenna, Auxiliary 3rd Party Output, S.A.M.E (custom) filtering, Loud & clear speaker volume, Independent siren volume, Rechargeable battery option, Historic Weather Memory Recall, Respects the EOM 1050 Hz signal, Can operate with out batteries in place, Sentry Mode.

CONS: Uses 4 AA batteries, Consumes 4 watts on standby, No scrolling text speed adjustment, No external antenna, No external audio speaker output, No AM-FM Radio, Can not be turned off completely.

[Teken]

WEATHER RADIO - :

[Teken]

WEATHER RADIO - FIRST ALERT WX-200:

On September 03, 2016 I was extremely happy to find a NOS First Alert WX-200 selling for $8.00 On September 15, 2016 Canada Post left me several parcels in the community mail box.









There isn't a lot different from the WX-150 so many of the elements I will simply repeat under the features and specifications.

FEATURES:

- NOAA Auto all hazard alerts supports (over) 60 emergency related events
- NOAA: Supports 4 additional NOAA ID's
- S.A.M.E technology for specific area messaging encoding
- 3 color alert LED indication
- Desktop AC power supply & LED Indicator
- 12 volt DC power supply adapter
- Time, Date, Day, Month, Year, 2 Alarm clocks, Snooze
- Accepts 4 standard AA batteries & Charging Circuit
- Orange adjustable LCD back lighting
- S.A.M.E 20 FIPS code memory
- S.A.M.E options of Single, Multi, All
- S.A.M.E advanced broadcast message filtering
- Auxiliary output to strobe, vibrator, dry contact
- External RF input antenna jack
- External output speaker jack
- Scrolling LCD message display
- None Volatile Memory - Recalls all settings
- 17 Memory Historic Weather Alert Recall EEPROM
- 8 Position volume: 1-7 selection
- 8 Position siren volume: 1-8 selection
- Sentry Mode - Validates Weekly / Monthly Test
- Alert Type: Tone, Voice & Tone
- Low battery visual indicator
- Telescopic (Adjustable) antenna
- Supports: English, French, Spanish
- Table & wall mount
- Siren Test

Cracking open the package and letting this NOS weather alert radio its first breath in the Teken air! Image capture of the First Alert WX-200, 12 volt power supply, detachable telescopic swivel antenna, manual.



Included with the package was four AA Panasonic alkaline batteries. I have to tell you considering this device has been sitting on somebodies shelf for ten plus years.



I didn't have much faith the battery cells would be even close to being OK. To my surprise every cell still measured over 1.58 VDC?!? I believe my back up batteries moving forward will be Panasonic batteries instead of Duracells / Energizers.



The entire system out of the packaging just chilling on my kitchen floor.



The First Alert WX-200 uses the same 12 volt 300 mA transformer as the older WX-150.



This specific model comes with a detachable 23" telescopic & swivel antenna. This new weather alert radio will enable me to use an external antenna for best reception. So this unit can be finally placed in the basement in the secure room.



The WX-200 has the exact same layout and physical dimensions as the WX-150.



The bottom of the unit also remains the same with four rubber none marring feet. Two hang holes for wall placement and listing of the 7 NOAA channels.



Battery cover removed this unit also takes four standard AA batteries. Like its younger brother it can also charge NiMH batteries if required.



Side view of the detachable antenna mount which has also been moved to the side when compared to the WX-150 is located on the rear of the frame.



Antenna installed and ready to use for testing.



The reason I wanted to have this radio is this model comes with the missing features I had really wanted in the WX-150. Which is, includes external antenna input, external speaker output, and external trigger for strobes, hard of hearing pillow vibrator, and dry contact.



One things I forgot to mention in the WX-150 review is this radio operates on 12 VDC. Twelve volts direct current is pervasive and readily available for land, sea, air transportation and usage.

Below is the included 12 VDC adapter which enables me another means of powering the weather alert radio during a grid down event. Long term goal is to sacrifice a power plug and cut the ends off and hard wire it to a UPS system. Doing so will offer 12 VDC from the UPS supplied by 120 VAC and the radio will still have its rechargeable back up in place.



Group photo of the family of three assuming I never find the 4th unit where ever it may be?



All three units side by side - As you can clearly see the WX-200 antenna is much longer than the WX-150 which I believe is 18"?



Some minor updates include the fact it now supports the following languages: English, French, Spanish.



New in the WX-200 is the ability to simply choose State / County for FIPS. The unit is programmed for all 50 States but sadly doesn't support the Canadian market.



Its not the end of the world as you can still manually enter the S.A.M.E FIPS codes for your specific city, town, perish, etc.

I just think it would have been really cool to see my location in the streaming display.



It should be noted the WX-200 weather alert radio was a little harder to program the county FIPS codes. I know its not very manly to say you read the full users manual. But, sadly I had to break it open because I couldn't figure out how to edit, add, delete previous entries in the radio. Upon opening this parcel there was a note indicating it was pre-programmed from the factory for some random place in the USA.



It took me about five minutes to figure out the up & down arrows to move through the menu. Regardless once mastered it was very easy to update the FIPS code(s).



The current plans for this fantastic weather radio is to configure and set it up as the primary weather security alert system.

At the moment I am reviewing some powered speakers which offer external outputs to chain multiple units together. My overall intention is to reduce my reliance on other forms of technology like WiFi, Blue Tooth, or other RF transmissions. Using a hardwired solution will ensure the broadcast is heard at all times and will not be impacted by outside interference.

Given the system doesn't need to be very loud I believe a 5-15 watt speaker system will be just fine. Now the real challenge comes down to finding a speaker that has some decent looks, weather resistant, and has decent sound quality.

This device comes with a standard 12 month limited warranty.

SUMMARY: There isn't much that can be said about this latest weather alert radio because it now includes all of the major features I wanted all along. Having the ability to connect an external antenna will ensure a strong RF signal in the basement. The external speaker output will allow me to hook up remote wired speakers for a PA system moving forward.

The external trigger output will of course be used as it was in the past to notify the Insteon network and security alarm panel. My hopes are in the next 90 days all of this will be completed and fully integrated with my systems. I will try my best to show case what I have done keeping in mind some elements I simply can't share because of security reasons.

Bottom line, the First Alert WX-200 weather alert radio will be the cornerstone of my monitoring system.

PROS: Solid construction and reliability, Two Alarm Clocks, Calendar, NOAA: Supports 4 additional NOAA ID's, None Volatile Memory, Detachable Telescopic Swivel 23" Antenna & Ext Antenna Input, Auxiliary 3rd Party Output, External Speaker Output, S.A.M.E (custom) filtering, Loud & clear speaker volume, Rechargeable battery option, Historic Weather Memory Recall, Respects the EOM 1050 Hz signal, Can operate with out batteries in place, Sentry Mode, Supports English, French, Spanish, Supports Quick 50 State S.A.M.E FIPS Setup.

CONS: Uses 4 AA batteries, Consumes 4 watts on standby, No scrolling text speed adjustment, No AM-FM Radio, Can not be turned off completely.