VHF Marine Radio Protocols
Operating Your Radio
25
Nothing
Comes Close to a Cobra
®
Standby/Receive
and Transmit
NOTE
If the Talk button is held down for five (5) minutes,
the radio will automatically sound a series of beeps
and cease transmitting to prevent unwanted signal
generation and battery drain. As soon as the Talk
button is released, it can be pressed again to
resume transmission.
NOAA Weather Channels and Alert
•
Monitoring the weather will probably be a frequent use of your radio. NOAA provides
continuous, around-the-clock broadcasts of the latest weather information. Taped weather
messages run every four (4) to six (6) minutes and are revised every two (2) or three (3)
hours, or as needed. The Coast Guard also announces weather and other safety warnings
on Channel 16. Smart boaters keep an eye on safety and an ear to the radio — and never
let the weather catch them unaware.
NOAA Emergency Weather Alert
In the event of a major storm or other weather condition requiring vessels at sea or on
other bodies of water to be notified, NOAA broadcasts a 1050 Hz tone that receivers such
as your CobraMarine VHF radio can detect and warn you of a weather alert condition.
When the Weather Alert mode on your radio is On, this signal will produce a loud tone
from the speaker in the radio and will automatically switch to the alerting weather channel
so the alert broadcast can be heard.
NOAA Test Alert System
To test this system, NOAA broadcasts the 1050 Hz signal every Wednesday sometime
between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. in each local time zone. Any receiver that can detect the
weather alert tone may use this service to verify that this system is functioning properly.
WX
H M L
SC
EM
WX/H-M-L Button
24 English
VHF Marine Radio Protocols
Operating Your Radio
Standby/Receive
and Transmit
Weather (WX) Standby Mode
To enter the
WX Standby
mode, press and hold the
WX/H-M-L
button.
Receiving a Weather Alert
NOAA broadcasts weather information as described in the
NOAA weather channels section on page 61 of this manual.
When NOAA broadcasts a weather alert signal and your radio
is in
WX Alert Standby
mode, the following items will be
displayed on the LCD display:
■
The
WX
icon (cloud/sun) icon will be displayed.
■
The last used weather channel will be displayed.
■
The bar graph will display received signal strength level.
■
The
WX Alert
icon (safety triangle) will be displayed.
■
The matrix will display
WEATHER STANDBY
.
NOTE
Only one (1) or two (2) of the weather channels will be
operating in any given location [only in
Receive (Rx)
mode]. You will need to select the channel with the
strongest signal in your location.
NOTE
When in the
WX Alert
mode, and NOAA sends the
1050 Hz alert tone, the radio will sound a series of
loud beeps regardless of the volume control setting.
MEM
SAME
ATIS VOX
LOMEDHI
VHF
T
R
A
B
GMRS
X
C
I
U
Weather Alert Standby
V
T
R
A
G
X
Transmit (Tx) Icon
V
T
R
A
G
X
Receive (Rx) Icon
MRHH350W_FLT_MANL_ENG_MRHH330_ENG_Body 10/30/13 2:39 PM Page 24
