Radio Shack 12-262 User manual

Please read this user’s guide before installing,
setting up, and using your new product
www.radioshack.com
12-262
Hazard Alert Radio
what’s included
Quick Start p. 2- 3
radio AC adapter
user’s guide

2
Power your radio by inserting the AC adapter into the radio and
plugging into an outlet.
power your radio
set up your hazard alert radio
Press MENU/
SELECT to
select features
and the arrow
buttons 
to navigate.
1
3When you turn on your Hazard Alert Radio the rst time, SET
LANGUAGEdisplays. Use the arrow buttons and MENU/
SELECT to select and conrm complete the following steps to setup
your Hazard Alert Radio.
The adapter must be intended to be correctly
orientated in a vertical or oor mount position.
AC adapter
NOTE

quick start
3
Insert 6 AA batteries (not included) for backup power.
Press WEATHER/SNOOZE to listen to any available broadcast. See
page 16-18 for a description of messages. For a complete description
of your Hazard Alert Radio, see pages 6-7. To adjust the broadcast
volume, press or while the broadcast is on (levels 1-16).
battery
compartment
insert 6 AA batteries (not included)
set up your hazard alert radio
receive alert
Press WEATHER /
SNOOZE to
listen to broadcast.
2
4
1. SET LANGUAGE - Select a language - ENGLISH, FRENCH, SPANISH
2. SET COUNTRY - Choose US or Canada.
3. SET STATE (or province) - Choose a state or province.
4. SET COUNTY (or region) - Select a county or region. Optionally, you can add
multiple counties or regions, by selecting YES when the prompt ADD ANOTHER?
displays, otherwise select NO.
5. (Optional) SET ALERT? - Select NO to keep default alerts (recommended). For
information on setting up alerts, see pages 12-14.
6. SETUP DONE displays when setup is nished. The radio automatically searches all
of the channels for the strongest weather broadcast.

4
quick start 2
the basics
This section explains how your Hazard Alert Radio works, how the
weather alert system operates, and describes the weather alert system.
nding a good location 6
description of your Hazard Alert radio 6
battery notes 7
changing your radio’s settings 8
using alarm or snooze 8
connecting to an external system 9
selecting channels 9
signal loss reminder setting 10
backlight setting 10
resetting your hazard alert radio 10
using your radio
This section shows you how to complete additional Hazard Alert Radio
set up. Including how to program alerts, locations, and FIPS/CLC codes.
turning on audible alerts 12
selecting alert type (voice or tone) 12
viewing alerts 13
programming alerts 14
missed alert notication 14
programming locations and FIPS/CLC codes 15
NWS/EC alert descriptions 16
faq
This section contains answers to frequently asked questions about
Hazard Alert Radios.
what are FIPS/CLC codes? 20
what is an alert? 20
what are undened or unrecognized alerts? 21
how do I test my radio? 21
multiple FIPS/CLC codes are stored, so why does
my radio report only one area? 21

5
contents
why is there no weather broadcast when you press
Weather/SNOOZE? 21
what is the difference between a watch and a warning? 22
how can I adapt my weather radio for special needs? 22
why wouldn’t I receive the test signal from NOAA/Weatheradio
Canada? 22
should the radio pick up a weather broadcast all of the time? 23
what does 0H29M (or similar) on the display mean? 23
what does CHECK OP on the display mean? 23
specications 24
RF emissions information 25
warranty back cover

6
description of your Hazard Alert Radio
MENU/SELECT and Arrow
Keys
Press to choose menu items
and conrm your selection.
The arrow keys  /  / /
allow you to navigate the
programming menu and
adjust the volume.
WEATHER/SNOOZE
Press to listen to the
broadcast, stop alarm, or
activate snooze when the
alarm sounds.
Set Clock and Alarm
To set clock, press and
hold the CLOCK button to
enter setup mode. To set
alarm press CLOCK until É
ashes, then press and hold
CLOCK to enter alarm setup.
Press or to select
minute or hour, the selected
digit ashes.
Press or to change
the digits.
Press after setting
the time to conrm your
selection and exit. A beep
sounds.
ip-up display
Shows the radio’s menu
choices. Lift to change angle.
ALERTS
While an alert is in effect, the corresponding
alert LED indicator ashes for 60 seconds and
then lights for the duration of time the alert
is in effect. Red - Warning, Orange - Watch,
Yellow - Advisory and Green - Ready.
For the best reception, place your Hazard Alert Radio on a at surface where it can receive
alert signals and you can hear the weather broadcast. To improve the Hazard Alert Radio’s
ability to receive a broadcast, do not place Hazard Alert Radio near any large obstructions or
metal surfaces such as a refrigerator, a metal cabinet, etc.
nding a good location

7
the basics
description of your Hazard Alert Radio
ALERT OUT
Connect to compatible external alerting device. When your radioWhen your radio
receives an alert, it passes the alert to the device. To reset the alert,
press WEATHER/SNOOZE twice. The alert turns off automatically
when the alert period ends. See page 9 for more information.
A/C adapter
Plug AC adapter
into the radio,
then into an AC
outlet.
ALARM SNOOZE/OFF/ON
Slide to turn on alarm or alarm
with a 10 minute snooze. See
page 8 for more.
ALERT ON/
OFF
Turn audible
alerts on or off.
See page 12 for
more.
External Antenna
For better reception,
connect an external
antenna using an optional
adapter cable with a
phono plug (not supplied)
battery backup power
Open the battery compartment
and install 6 AA batteries
inside. Then close the battery
compartment. The battery icon
displays the battery level.
• Use only fresh batteries of the required size and recommended type.
• If you do not plan to use the Hazard Alert Radio for several weeks, remove the batteries.
Batteries can leak chemicals that can damage electronic parts.
• Dispose of old batteries promptly and properly. Do not bury or burn them.
battery notes

8
IMPORTANT! You must set the alarm time before selecting ALARM
ON/SNOOZE. See “Set Clock and Alarm” on page 6.
1. Slide ALARM button to ON or SNOOZE, Éis displayed. In Snooze
mode, press WEATHER/SNOOZE to silence the alarm for 10 minutes.
• When the broadcast is on, the alarm sounds for 5 seconds
only.
• If you select ALARM ON/SNOOZE before setting alarm time,
the radio beeps twice.
using alarm or snooze
NOTE
Turn Alarm or
Snooze on or off.
To change features once you have initially programmed your radio,
press MENU/SELECT and or to select features in the following
order:
• SELECT CH - Channel setup, see page 9
• ALERT MODE - Alert mode setup, see page 12
• ALT REMINDER - Missed alert reminder, see page 14
• SIG REMINDER - Signal loss reminder, see page 10
• LOCATION- Location, see page 15
• SET ALERTS? Alert setup, see page 14
• SET LANGUAGE - Language setup, see page 2-3
• SET COUNTRY - Country setup, see page 2-3
• BACKLIGHT? - Backlight setup, see page 10
When the feature you want to edit appears, press MENU/SELECT to
select the feature and to display the feature’s options.
changing your radio’s settings

9
the basics
The ALERT OUT feature enables your Hazard Alert Radio to activate
external alerting devices such as pillow shakers, ashers, and other
compatible special needs alerting devices.
Your Hazard Alert Radio provides a switch closure through a transistor
capable of handling up to 200mA, which is adequate for activating
most common alerting devices.
The output signal will change when an alert is received
or expired or manually reset by pressing the “WEATHER
/SNOOZE” button twice. Your RadioShack store carries
audible or visible alert accessories.
connecting to an external system
Connect ALERT OUT to
external alerting device (up to
200mA) with 3.5mm phono
plug cable (not supplied).
NOTE
1. Press MENU/SELECT and press or until SELECT CHdisplays.
2. Press MENU/SELECT again. Then press or to select either:
AUTO(default)
• SEARCHING CHANNEL displays during a search, followed by
the channel X (where X is the channel number 1-7).
• WEATHER CHANNEL X AVAILABLE displays when channel X is
detected.
• NO CHANNEL AVAILABLE BACK TO CHANNEL X displays when
no channel is detected and the previously selected channel
X displays.
MANUAL
• Press or to select a channel. Then press MENU/
SELECT.
3. Press to exit.
If you received a NOAA/Weatheradio Canada broadcast on more
than one channel, the one with the best reception may not be the
best one for your location. Contact your local RadioShack store or
the NWS/EC for information regarding broadcast locations.
selecting channels
NOTE

10
1. Press MENU/SELECT and press or to select BACKLIGHT?
setting. Then, press MENU/SELECT.
2. Select ON, OFF, or AUTO. If you select AUTO, the backlight turns on
for 10 seconds when a key is pressed, an alert is received, or the AC
adapter is plugged in.
3. Press MENU/SELECT again and press to exit.
backlight setting
1. Unplug the AC adapter and remove the backup batteries.
2. While holding down WEATHER/SNOOZE, plug the Hazard Alert
Radio’s AC adapter into an outlet or install batteries. USER SETUP
displays and the radio beeps. Then release WEATHER/SNOOZE.
3. Press MENU/SELECT to clear the memory and restore the factory
settings. DEFAULT displays. Wait 5 to 10 seconds until USER SETUP
displays.
4. Unplug then plug in the AC adapter and install batteries. SET
LANGUAGE displays. You must reinitialize the radio (see pages 2-3).
resetting your hazard alert radio
1. Press MENU/SELECT and press or until SIG REMINDER
displays. Press MENU/SELECT to enable or disable it. (%displays
when enabled and Ídisplays when disabled.)
2. Press to exit.
• Press any button to mute signal loss reminder alert. If a
signal is detected for less than 10 minutes and lost again, no
signal loss reminder will sound.
• If the signal is lost , SIGNAL LOSS appears and Êashes
on the display. WARNING and ADVISORY alert LEDs ash
alternatively, and WATCH LED lights.
signal loss reminder setting
NOTE

11
the basics

12
Alerts always display in the LCD. To enable audible alerts, slide
ALERT ON/OFF to ON. An alert sounds when a Warning, Watch, or
Advisory is received and the alert %icon appears.
When ALERT ON/OFF is set to OFF, your radio beeps twice and Í
appears.
If you slide ALERT ON/OFF to OFF before the unit is
powered on, the radio still operates in ALERT ON mode, until
you slide ALERT ON/OFF to ON and then OFF again.
NOTE
Turn on alerts.
1. To select alert type, press MENU/SELECT and press or until
ALERT MODE appears. Press MENU/SELECT to enter. Use or 
to select either:
VOICE – An alert tone sounds for 10 seconds, and then the
weather (voice) broadcast automatically turns on for ve
minutes. The alert description and duration also appear.
TONE – An alert tone sounds for 5 minutes, and the alert
description and duration appear. To silence the alert tone
sooner, press WEATHER/SNOOZE.
2. Press MENU/SELECT to conrm and press to exit.
select alert type (voice or tone)
turning on audible alerts

13
using your radio
When an alert sounds, the alert description displays. Press to view
alerts in the order they were received.
Your Hazard Alert Radio can store up to four different alerts in memory.
If an alert is received while another alert is in effect, the new alert
description displays. For example, if your radio received 3 different
weather condition alerts, the following displays in sequence. (3H15M
is 3 hours 15 minutes, the forecast duration of weather condition, 3-
EVENT is the sum of weather condition).
While reviewing warning messages, if you do not press
or for 30 seconds, the most recently received alert
information appears on the display.
viewing alerts
While an alert is in effect,
the corresponding alert
LED indicator ashes for
60 seconds and then lights
for the duration of time
the alert is in effect.
Red - Warning,
Orange - Watch,
Yellow - Advisory,
Green - Ready
Flash Flood 3H15M 3 -EVENT
Hurricane 0H15M 3 -EVENT
Special Weather
Statement 6H00M 3 -EVENT
NOTE

14
When missed alert reminder is in Tone mode, your Hazard Alert Radio
beeps every 30 seconds after an alert broadcast ends until the alert
effective time expires. In Voice mode, a voice alert broadcasts for up to
5 minutes, then the radio beeps a tone every 30 seconds until the alert
effective time expires.
1. Press MENU/SELECT and press or until ALT REMINDER
appears. Then press MENU/SELECT to select one of the following:
% - missed alert reminder activated.
Í - missed alert reminder disabled.
2. Press to exit.
You can press any button to mute the missed alert reminder.
missed alert notication
Many alerts are on by default. For a list of NWS/EC alerts default
settings, see page 16-18.
1. Press MENU/SELECT then press or until SET ALERT?
displays. Press MENU/SELECT, then press or to select either:
• WARNING
• WATCH
• ADVISORY
2. Press MENU/SELECT and or  and choose a specic alert. Then
press MENU/SELECT
3. Press or to select ALERT OFFor ALERT ON.
4. Press MENU/SELECT to select and conrm, and press to exit.
programming alerts
NOTE

15
using your radio
Your Hazard Alert Radio is pre-programmed with the seven weather
broadcast frequencies (channels 1-7). The rst time you use your
Hazard Alert Radio, it automatically scans for the strongest channel
and receives all SAME alert signals broadcast within a 50-mile (80 km)
radius.
WARNING! Your radio has FIPS/CLC codes preset for your state/
province and county/region. Only change a FIPS/CLC code if you
have veried with the NWS/EC that the code is correct.
1. Press MENU/SELECT and press or to select LOCATIONsetup.
Press MENU/SELECT again to enter location setting.
2. Press or  and select from the following,then press MENU/
SELECT:
•ALL – Receives all SAME alert signals broadcast within a 50-
mile (80 km) radius. There are no locations to edit.
•SINGLE– Receives a SAME alert signal for only one
programmed location. In SINGLE mode, only the rst
memory location can be selected.
•MULTIPLE– Receives a SAME alert signal only for the pre-
programmed locations (up to 9). Press or to select an
EMPTYlocation or a location to edit.
3. In MULTIPLEor SINGLE mode, press MENU/SELECT to select
current memory location and press or to select EDIT?or
DELETE?.
4. To edit, press MENU/SELECT then press or to select new
state/province and county/region. Or, after a county/region is
selected, press  to display FIPS/CLC code. Use or to change
the rst digit in the FIPS/CLC code and to select the next digit in
the code.
5. Press MENU/SELECT to conrm and to exit.
•The Hazard Alert Radio may miss alert signals while it is being
programmed.
•When selecting an empty location after adding an county/region to
memory, a list of nearby counties/regions displays. Press once to
choose a county/region from a previously selected state/province.
Press again to select another state/province.
• The radio updates the location based on the entered FIPS/CLC code
and displays the location name. If the new FIPS/CLC code does not
match any county or region, NOT FOUND displays and the entered code
is displayed instead of a county/region name.
• If you press when the cursor is at the left most digit of the FIPS/
CLC code, your changes will not be saved.
programming locations and FIPS/CLC codes
NOTES

16
NWS/EC alert descriptions
Event Code Level Default
Administrative Message Advisory Off
Avalanche Watch Watch On
Avalanche Warning Warning On
Biological Hazard Warning Warning On *
Boil Water Warning Warning On
Blizzard Warning Warning On
Child Abduction Emergency Advisory On
Civil Danger Warning Warning On *
Civil Emergency Message Warning On *
Costal Flood Watch Watch On
Costal Flood Warning Warning On
Chemical Hazard Warning Warning On *
Contaminated Water Warning Warning On *
Dam Watch Watch On
Dam Break Warning Warning On *
Contagious Disease Warning Warning On **
Practice/Demo Advisory Off
Dust Storm Warning Warning On
Emergency Action Notication Warning On *
Emergency Action Termination Advisory On *
Earthquake Warning Warning On *
Immediate Evacuation Warning On *
Evacuation Watch Watch On
Food Contamination Warning Warning On *
Flash Flood Watch Watch On
Flash Flood Statement Advisory On
Flash Flood Warning Warning On
Flood Watch Watch On
Flood Statement Advisory On
Flood Warning Warning On
Fire Warning Warning On

17
using your radio
Event Code Level Default
Flash Freeze Warning Warning On
Freeze Warning Warning On
Hurricane Statement Advisory On
Hazardous Materials Warning Warning On *
Hurricane Watch Watch On
Hurricane Warning Warning On *
High Wind Watch Watch On
High Wind Warning Warning On
Iceberg Warning Warning On
Industrial Fire Warning Warning On *
Local Area Emergency Advisory On *
Law Enforcement Warning Warning On *
Land Slide Warning Warning On *
National Audible Test Advisory Off
National Information Center Advisory Off
Network Notication Message Advisory Off
National Periodic Test Advisory Off
National Silent Test Advisory Off
Nuclear Power Plant Warning Warning On *
Power Outage Advisory Advisory On
Radiological Hazard Warning Warning On *
Required Monthly Test Advisory Off
Required Weekly Test Advisory Off
Special Marine Warning Warning On
Special Weather Statement Advisory On
Shelter In-Place Warning Warning On *
Severe Thunderstorm Watch Watch On
Severe Thunderstorm Warning Warning On
Severe Weather Statement Advisory On
Tornado Watch Watch On
911 Telephone Outage
Emergency
Advisory On
Tornado Warning Warning On *

18
Event Code Level Default
Tropical Storm Watch Watch On
Tropical Storm Warning Warning On *
Tsunami Watch Watch On *
Tsunami Warning Warning On *
Transmitter Backup On Advisory Off
Transmitter Carrier Off Advisory Off
Transmitter Carrier On Advisory Off
Transmitter Primary On Advisory Off
Volcano Warning Warning On *
Wild Fire Watch Watch On
Wild Fire Warning Warning On *
Winter Storm Watch Watch On
Winter Storm Warning Warning On
Unrecognized Watch Watch On
Unrecognized Emergency Advisory On
Unrecognized Statement Advisory On
Unrecognized Warning Warning On *
The * (asterisk) denotes that an alert is enabled permanently
and cannot be selected or changed.
NOTE

19
using your radio

20
what are FIPS/CLC codes?
Your weather radio can receive all SAME alert signals broadcast
within about a 50-mile (80 km) radius. To receive alerts about weather
occurring only in particular counties/regions within that area, you can
program up to nine locations into your Hazard Alert Radio and the
FIPS/CLC codes are automatically set into memory. You can then avoid
hearing an alert that applies to an area within a 50-mile (80 km) radius,
but not necessarily to your county, parish, or region.
For the purpose of broadcasting weather information, the National
Weather Service (NWS) and Environment Canada (EC) have divided
the United States and Canada into areas by state/province and county/
region (or parish, where applicable) then assigned a 6-digit FIPS or CLC
code. For example, the code for Tarrant County, Texas, is 048439.
In the United States, the rst digit of a FIPS code identies the county
subdivision, the next two digits identify the state, and the last three
digits identify the county or parish.
In Canada, the rst digit of a CLC code is always “0”, the next digit
identies the province or area of the country, the next two digits identify
the region, and the last two digits identify the region subdivision.
obtaining FIPS/CLC codes: To obtain the necessary FIPS/CLC codes,
contact your local RadioShack store or call the NWS toll free at 1-888-
NWR-SAME (1-888-697-7263).
You can also visit the NWS website:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/indexnw.htm
In Canada, visit the Meteorological Service of Canada (EC) website:
http://www.msc-smc.ec.gc.ca/msb/
what is an alert?
Your radio is preset to receive warnings, watches and advisories from
the NWS/EC. When an alert is received, a voice or tone alert sounds,
and the alert description and duration appear on the display. Alert
descriptions are based on a list of specic weather alert types published
by NWS/EC. For a list of alert descriptions displayed on your Hazard
Alert Radio, refer to page 16-18.
If severe weather is imminent, do not wait for an alert tone.
NOTE