Oregon WR601 User Manual

QUICK START GUIDE

WR601 NOAA WEATHER ALERT RADIO

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

The National Weather Service (NWS) is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It provides weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas. NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio (NWR) is a nationwide network of radio stations broadcasting continuous NWS warnings, watches, forecasts and other hazard information 24 hours a day.

UNPACK

Insert Batteries

The radio will activate automatically once 3 “AA” batteries are inserted. The radio cannot be deactivated, to turn the LCD display ON or OFF, press and hold the NOAA button for 2 seconds.

Batteries are recommended for travel use. While at home or in the office, use the AC adapter to conserve battery power.

Set Clock and Calendar

Once the unit powers on, you will need to set the time and date.

1. Press the UP or DOWN buttons to choose the setting. Press and hold UP or DOWN to scroll quickly through the setting.

2. Press the MODE button to confirm.

3. The settings order is: 12/24 hr mode, hour, minute, year, month/day, day/month and language.

WR601 Radio

USER MANUAL WARRANTY/

User Manual

GETTING STARTED

2 3

Carrying Holder

QUICK START GUIDE

Quick Start Guide Warranty /

4 5

1. UP / DOWN volume button

2. MODE button

3. CHANNEL button

4. SP jack

5. NOAA button

6. COUNTY button

Cradle

REGISTRATION

CARD

Registration card

7. SNOOZE button

8. AC/DC power port

Adapter

3 “AA” Alkaline

Batteries

ABOUT ALERT SYSTEMS

Emergency Alert System (EAS)

The emergency alert system uses the latest technology to broadcast important emergency information specific to certain areas. See www.fcc.gov/eb/eas/ for more information on the emergency alert system.

Early Warning Alert System

The NWR early warning system utilizes radio signals to alert users to environmental dangers. When the NWR airs urgent warnings, a digital encoding system known as SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) allows the WR601 to sound an alert for only certain weather conditions or within a limited geographic area such as a county.

SAME technology filters out non-local emergency alerts, allowing you to monitor only local counties.

FIND YOUR SAME CODE AND NWR FREQUENCY

IMPORTANT

To ensure accurate reception of all NWR and EAS events you must program the SAME codes and corresponding channels for your specific county or region

NWS SAME Code and NWS Channel Frequency

The SAME code is a 6-digit number corresponding to a particular NWR transmitter. Each transmitter operates to one of 7 frequencies. The WR601 stores these frequencies in 7 preset channels. The NWS Channel for your area will broadcast weather information for your area 24 hours a day. You will know the correct channel is selected when you hear the weather broadcast.

Program SAME Codes

1. Press the COUNTY button.

2. Press COUNTY again.

3. Press and hold COUNTY for 2 seconds.

4. Press the UP and DOWN buttons to select the first digit of your SAME code.

5. Press COUNTY to confirm and move on to the next digit.

TIP For further information on selecting the SAME code for all areas in a particular county

or state, please refer to your User Manual.

Channel No

Frequency

For example, the table below shows SAME codes for Montana. Residents of Beaverhead County should program a SAME code of 030001 and the corresponding Channel number 7 (162.550 MHz).

ST.

Obtain the NWS SAME Code and NWS Channel Frequency for your Area

Telephone: 1-888-NWR-SAME (1888-697-7263) OR Go to: www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/indexnw.htm

PROGRAM YOUR SAME CODE

County

Beaverhead

Big Horn

Blaine

Broadwater

162.4002162.4253162.4504162.4755162.5006162.5257162.550

SAME#

030001

030003

030005

030007

NWR Transmitter

Butte MT

Billings MT

Havre MT

Helean MT

Freq. MHz

162.550

162.400

Call

WXL 79

WXL 27

WXL 53

WXK 66

Watts

100

400

300

SELECT NWS CHANNEL FREQUENCY

To receive alerts, you must also set the radio channel to match the NWS channel frequency.

1. Press the CHANNEL button for 2 seconds.

2. Press the UP and DOWN buttons to select the channel. When scrolling through the different channels, you will hear either static or the 24-hour weather broadcast. When the channel selected is broadcasting the weather information for your area, you have selected the correct channel.

3. Press MODE to confirm.

TIP Refer to Section D of this guide for information on how to find your channel frequency.

TEST YOUR SIGNAL RECEPTION

The NWS office conducts a Required Weekly Test (RWT) of NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio every Wednesday between 11 AM and Noon (Central Time), when weather permits.

The RWT consists of the RWT SAME code, the 1050 MHz tone, and a short message explaining the test and the counties that the particular transmitter covers. If adverse weather prevents the test from being conducted on Wednesday, it is postponed until the next good weather day. If the test is not conducted by Friday, it is postponed until the following Wednesday.

The range for NWR reception is about 40 miles from the transmitter. However, many things affect reception.

The radio can be programmed to receive alerts from up to 6 specific different transmitters. If you do not program any SAME code, it will receive alerts from ALL transmitters on the selected channel.

Receipt of the NWR weekly test is the best way to ensure your product will have

NOTE

proper reception during an emergency. If you have problems receiving the weekly tests as indicated, please read through your User Manual and visit the NWR website (www.weather.gov/nwr/recept.htm) for more tips on better reception.