Suggestion for new WX radio

[KSDeputy]

Since my Midland 74-200 is showing it's age, I have been wrestling with which new weather radio to buy for about a week now. I studied reviews on the new Midland, and the Sangean CL-100. Those are the two radios in my narrowed down list. I chose the Sangean, and it should arrive any day now. I am close to Kansas City, MO and it's signal is much stronger than the KS frequency I need to listen to. In fact I had to put up an outside antenna on my tower to pick the KS freq up on the 74-200. Anyone else have a better choice than the Sangean? I can send it back if I find something better.

 

[PVPD730]

Since my Midland 74-200 is showing it's age, I have been wrestling with which new weather radio to buy for about a week now. I studied reviews on the new Midland, and the Sangean CL-100. Those are the two radios in my narrowed down list. I chose the Sangean, and it should arrive any day now. I am close to Kansas City, MO and it's signal is much stronger than the KS frequency I need to listen to. In fact I had to put up an outside antenna on my tower to pick the KS freq up on the 74-200. Anyone else have a better choice than the Sangean? I can send it back if I find something better.

I would highly recommend one of the Reecom models. I bought the 1650 last year, and it performs great! Blows Radioshack and Midland out of the water.

http://www.amazon.com/Back-up-Reeco...ie=UTF8&qid=1369543847&sr=8-2&keywords=Reecom

 

[flythunderbird]

I second PVPD's comment on the Reecom radios. I bought a Reecom R-1630 to replace a First Alert WX radio that turned out to be garbage. I'm very happy with my Reecom unit.

 

[SCPD]

Agreed! Have the Reecom 1650 and it's great. One of the reasons it does not sound for the weekly test which used to wake me up. Best wx radio I have ever owned.

 

[techman210]

I would highly recommend one of the Reecom models. I bought the 1650 last year, and it performs great! Blows Radioshack and Midland out of the water.

Amazon.com: Unique 185 Hours Back-up Battery Life Time (Standby), Reecom R-1650 S.A.M.E Weather Alert Radio with AM/FM Radio (Light Grey), Alert Message and Effective Time Count Down Display At a Glance, 25 Event Memories: Electronics

The Reecom is rich in features, but a bit clunky to get programmed. However, the seemingly 1 person company that imports the radios has no technical service, and poor customer communication skills, so just be prepared for that.

 

[bear780ks]

Nice weather Radio

Good piece of Info i seen the Radio back a few months and thought of getting one but with my 396xt and my Cellphones with the Emergency Alerts system and the other Weather apps i'm kind of Covered.. but as mentioned the Radio doesn't look bad at all


The One i like is the R-1650 and i would Buy it for the Weather and other neat feature it has this is one of the Many it has an Am / FM Radio but switches in emergency situations. If it has a Good Siren type speaker it should sound good as well for the Radio part of it..


This is there full Website: Ra

Reecom

 

[PVPD730]

The Reecom is rich in features, but a bit clunky to get programmed. However, the seemingly 1 person company that imports the radios has no technical service, and poor customer communication skills, so just be prepared for that.

Yes, for those who aren't familiar with the equipment should definitely read the instruction manual or watch an online tutorial before programming it. Mine is set-up for 7 different counties, and I had it programmed in less than 10 minutes. The only negative thing I have to say about Reecom is their radios do not come with mounting capabilities. Mine's glued to the wall with industrial strength velcro. Pros do outweigh the cons, though (and the alert siren will make a deadman jump out of his coffin!).

 

[fuzzmanks]

I have the Sangean CL-100 new in the box that I got from Amazon a few days ago. My choice was based on the reviews on Amazon. It's my first alert-type weather radio. I hope it was a good choice for me.

 

[MesquiteWx]

I have the Midland WR-300 and it has worked great for me for years. I had never heard of the Reecom until now. Looks like a very good radio too and has a couple of features I wish the Midland had. Like shutting after after an alert message. The Midland will shut off but not till after a min or so after the alert message. As I just want to hear the alert and then it shut off. That's the only complaint I have of the Midland radio as it can be annoying in the middle of the night listening to 2 mins of broadcast for less than a 30 sec message.

 

[W9NES]

I would look at the Midland Wx-100 and the newer model that replaced the wx-100. I also have a Reecom R-1630.

 

[SCPD]

I just purchased the Sangean CL-100 ... even though I know nothing about weather radios. I have been using my GRE PSR500 scanner for weather alerts. It works fine .. but I don't want to dedicate my scanner to this purpose.

I just hope I made a good decision.

 

[SCPD]

I have received my Sangean CL-100 .. and so far it appears to be a pretty good little Weather radio.

The only thing is that I am wondering .. what is the difference between the Voice and Siren alert modes ? Is one setting better than the other ?

Other than that .. I have programmed the radio with my areas SAME code. I have yet to receive an alert, but expect to receive one this week sometime.

 

[fuzzmanks]

Sangean alert modes

I have received my Sangean CL-100 .. and so far it appears to be a pretty good little Weather radio.

The only thing is that I am wondering .. what is the difference between the Voice and Siren alert modes ? Is one setting better than the other ?

Other than that .. I have programmed the radio with my areas SAME code. I have yet to receive an alert, but expect to receive one this week sometime.

Be sure and post if you figure out the difference between Voice/Siren. I just assumed it meant that the verbal warning would play without the siren at the beginning. So I don't really know.

I got mine setup early summer and have heard it siren alert several times. I really like how it starts at very low volumn and ramps up so as to not jolt you out of bed. Even though mine has been set up for several weeks, last week was the first time I heard the weekly test (here it is Noon on Wednesday's) because i am usually not home at that time.

 

[SCPD]

I got my first alert today (Required Weekly Test) .. the only problem is that the test lasted for over an hour . . and the radio never shut itself off and the Advisory light never went out. Is this normal or is there a problem with my radio ? I have mine set to Voice Alert Mode .. and I didn't hear a siren go off at the beginning of the test.

 

[fuzzmanks]

Make sure your time is set correctly. I think the unit uses it to know when to disable the 3 alert LEDs and maybe the weekly test.

But I do stand corrected!! On page 15 of the Sangean manual it says Voice mode will give an alert tone for 10 seconds followed by the message FOR 10 MINUTES. In the Siren Mode it will sound the alert tone for 4 minutes and followed by the message.

I check my unit and found i do have it in VOICE MODE. I do get the alert tone for 10 seconds and then I just get the message once (or maybe twice) and then the unit goes back into standbye mode. It does NOT stay on for 10 minutes (even for a real Wx alert).

Hope this helps.

 

[SCPD]

Make sure your time is set correctly. I think the unit uses it to know when to disable the 3 alert LEDs and maybe the weekly test.

But I do stand corrected!! On page 15 of the Sangean manual it says Voice mode will give an alert tone for 10 seconds followed by the message FOR 10 MINUTES. In the Siren Mode it will sound the alert tone for 4 minutes and followed by the message.

I check my unit and found i do have it in VOICE MODE. I do get the alert tone for 10 seconds and then I just get the message once (or maybe twice) and then the unit goes back into standbye mode. It does NOT stay on for 10 minutes (even for a real Wx alert).

Hope this helps.

Thanks ... I also have mine set to Voice Mode. I guess I need more alerts to really see how the radio performs. All I know is that the Required Weekly Test was on for over an hour .. so maybe a normal alert is different.

I finally unplugged the unit and pulled the batteries to make the Advisory light go out.

 

[fuzzmanks]

I finally unplugged the unit and pulled the batteries to make the Advisory light go out.

One more thought...double check that you have the time set for the correct AM or PM.

 

[SCPD]

One more thought...double check that you have the time set for the correct AM or PM.

The radio is set to the correct time. I had an alert today .. and I noticed that the "alert end time" was 6 hours from the time of the initial alert. Thus I expect the light to go out .. at that time. (I will actually check later to confirm this).

The only thing is that the alarm went off .. and started to play audio from the indicated frequency 162.4000. But the radio shut off the audio literally 5 seconds later. I thought this was kinda annoying .. as I was unable to hear the alert audio. I will monitor how the radio reacts over the next few days.

 

[fuzzmanks]

That would be annoying. That has not happened to me. I hope it was just a fluke.

I set up 2 more of these Sangean radios today for my Dad and a family friend. I hope they work as they should for them. They are elderly (82 & 71) and may not realize it if there are not working like mine is. I'm very happy with mine.

 

[SCPD]

My Sangean CL-100 performed as I would have expected ... my "watch" light went out when the alert end time was met. The only thing that I have to confirm now is that the audio mutes at the correct time, or at least something reasonable.

My opinion on the CL-100 is still on the fence .. I am neither happy nor dis-satisfied about the product.

We are expecting more severe weather tomorrow so I shall see how the radio performs.

Thanks
Kevin