Owner`s manual

4
Introduction
ˆ Introduction
Your RadioShack 7 Channel SAME
Weatheradio represents the latest
generation of weather alert
technology. Your Weatheradio uses
SAME (Specific Area Message
Encoding) circuitry to provide
complete information about weather
conditions in your immediate area, so
you are not bothered by alerts that do
not affect you. Your Weatheradio
includes an indoor thermometer,
wireless outdoor thermometer and
digital clock.
SAME Operation —
lets you
program up to 15 FIPS (Federal
Information Processing System)
codes into the Weatheradio’s
memory, so alerts only sound when a
weather emergency is declared in
those specific locations.
Missed Alert Reminder —
sounds a
tone every 10 seconds while an alert
is active, to prevent you from missing
an alert.
Alert Status Indicators —
help you
determine at a glance the type of alert
the Weatheradio is receiving.
Traditional weather radios simply
receive the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
weather broadcast (usually within a
50-mile radius), then sound an alarm
if any emergency code was
transmitted along with the broadcast.
This means that people outside an
affected area are often alerted even
though their area is not affected,
causing some to ignore weather
warnings that apply to their area.
In 1994, NOAA began broadcasting
signals called FIPS (Federal
Information Processing System)
codes along with their standard
weather broadcasts. These codes
identify the type of emergency and
the specific geographic area (such as
a county) affected by the emergency.
Your Weatheradio receives,
interprets, and displays information
about the codes, so you can
determine if the emergency might
affect your area. Only SAME-
compatible weather radios are able to
take advantage of this new
technology.
Each FIPS code identifies a specific
geographic area defined by the
National Weather Service (NWS), so
your Weatheradio sounds an alert
only when a weather emergency is
declared in that area. This helps you
more efficiently track the weather
conditions in and around your area.