WR120: Flashing NOAA sign meaning?

[va2fsh]

Hi everyone! I have a Midland WR120 weather radio. Had it for a little over a year or so, kept it in the office (2nd floor of house, no metal roof) on my table next to the computer whose right in front of a window. No complaints...seemed to work great. I setup "the littleless shack that could" (basically a little set of shelves from Amazon to house my 2 portable, weather radio, and Anytone UV-778 + DPS-712M power supply) in the same room and wanted to put the weather radio on that shelf, but a little further from the window and closer to a wall. Didn't think much about it, but 2 weeks ago it started beeping loudly every 10 minutes and that's when I noticed the NOAA indicator flashing on the screen. I assume this means the reception isn't that great and it's having a hard time

Opened up the manual but couldn't find any mention of the meaning of this. I went into the menus and confirmed I was tuning into the station with the best sounding signal. I noticed that there are 2 stations I could use...one of which seems to now be having technical difficulties. I don't recall ever having switched from that station to the other...but I have terrible memory. Yesterday, I saw that I received the weekly test (Wednesday at noon, as I am in Québec, Canada) as an Advisory alert.

I seem to have between 1 and 2 bars (I assume that's signal strength) and if I hit the Snooze button, I can hear fairly well the weather station, although there is a bit of static. I unplugged the device and walked around the room, even going to it's old emplacement near the window and the signal doesn't really get that better.

Anything I've missed? Any suggestions on how to get this back to working sometime soon?

Cheers!
David VA2FSH

 

[ScannerSK]

If you have a police scanner, try tuning in the NOAA stations to see if they are received any better. If yes, maybe the weather radio receiver has a problem. Someone noted online, "From the midlandusa.com faqs: The flashing NOAA icon can indicate that the radio is not receiving a strong signal from the National Weather Service."

 

[va2fsh]

I can tune into the NOAA frequency used by the WR120 on my anytone UV-778 (using a N9TAX roll up j-pole antenna) and it is very clear. I can also tune in with either my Baofeng UV-17 Pro GPS (with telescopic antenna) or my Wouxun KG-UV9D Plus (with SignalStick) and both are pretty clear.

I even got an external antenna (with RCA connector) for the WR120, but it doesn't seem to add anything to the reception quality. Either in it's new location or the older location.

I've sent an email to Midland support...I'll see what they say.

Appreciate the help ScannerSK!
David

 

[K4EET]

Hello David (@va2fsh),

You are right, the manual is not much help on the NOAA icon. All page 4 says about it is:

“NOAA — Indicates when the radio is in the weather radio mode.”



When you say it is flashing, one would think that means something is amiss with the NOAA weather station’s received signal at your alert radio. It will be interesting to see what Midland has to say. I also have a WR120 but it failed on me. I replaced it with the WR300 which I like better. So far it has been a good performer.

Keep us posted on what Midland has to say.

73, Dave K4EET

 

[merlin]

One old weather radio I had would flash the NOAA icon if the signal was lost more than Xn hours.

 

[dave3825]

You are right, the manual is not much help on the NOAA icon. All page 4 says about it is:

Or much else for that matter.


I have a WR100 and when reception sucks, or it misses the weekly test, it says on the screen (CHECK RECEPTION) but nothing in the manual states that.

But its on Weather.gov

My NOAA Weather Radio Keeps Beeping!

 

[2IR473]

My NOAA weather radio keeps beeping

 

[KevinC]

I might as well join the echo machine...

My NOAA weather radio keeps beeping

 

[K4EET]

I might as well join the echo machine...

My NOAA weather radio keeps beeping

Well darn… My NOAA weather radio is not beeping!!! I feel left out… ☹️