Eton Camouflage
FR-400 on sale @ llbean.com for $24.95, thats about 58% off it's regular price of $60 bucks.It's pretty ugly in camo, but you can't beat that price. I just ordered two, get'em while you can!

Nice find I just purchased aradio shack radio on sale for around 20 bux am/fm + sw and like it.

Lee

Does anyone know if the TV channels will work after the first part of 2009 when broadcast of analog TV is set to end? I don't think they will work but I'm not sure. Even if they won't work after 2009, I consider this to be a pretty good buy as the AM, FM, and NOAA channels will still work.

All-Weather Alert Radio, FR-400 on sale for $24.95 at L.L. Bean

smitty

Hmmm, that would suck if the tv band didn't work...

Just to clear things up, I believe that the radios that receive the current TV bands will not work after the DTV transition of February 17, 2009. For one, the current radios receive analog signals and are not equipped with the digital decoder to receive the new signals. Secondly, the new digital TV stations are broadcast on completely different frequencies than the current analog stations, and once the DTV transition is complete, the old analog frequency bands will be allocated to other uses such as emergency services and wireless broadband.

Just remember that this WON'T get TV audio after the Feb 2009 cutover to digital

This is 100% accurate. see http://www.dtv.gov

Hmmm...maybe something interesting will come through on those bands after 2009......

those bands will be converted to digital signals, no matter WHO buys them.
I just did a research piece at work on the digital tv conversion. I know more than I want to about it.

So I guess all i'll hear on there's gonna be static....

I think I am going to get one anyway. I don't have a NOAA radio with a crank power supply. That seems like a good idea.

Broadcast TV is kind of boring on the radio anyway, without the visual part that is.

Now that I think about it, broadcast TV is pretty boring with the visual part too.

It is GarlyDog, but the advantage was really for the news/updates during emergencies.

The sad truth is we are a TV-centric society. As such, the updates from TV news tend to be more detailed, more frequent, and more accurate than those on the radio.

That is the real loss.

If you really want to get the news though a scanner is a better option, you can find the police/fire or news frequencies and pick up the details before they get broadcast on TV with the political spin the reporter puts on the story.

I just got my radios in the mail today. They are a little lighter than I thought. I like that I didn't pay full price. I like the carrying bag that came with them, I'll be using them for 1st aid kits maybe. The radios seem a wee pit flimsy for my taste, thats why it's always best to handle a product in person before buying online. Well at least they do everything that they are advertised to do, so I'm happy with my purchase.

what do we do? do we get digital weather radio???

too many decisions... not enough time to think.

"Weather radio", as in the NOAA weather bands, will not be affected by the digital TV transition. Only the radios that receive the TV bands (normally labeled as channels 2–13) will be affected, and the effect will only be to the reception of those (non-existent) analog TV bands.

As for getting a radio that can receive the digital TV bands, that may or may not be a future possibility. Since the audio and the video are multiplexed and encoded into a digital signal, the ATSC tuner electronics that are required to receive the audio would also have to receive the video. Standalone radios that receive the digital TV bands will probably not be manufactured, and the capability will be shifted to small portable TVs instead. That is only my opinion, though, and is based on the question, "If we have to put the same ATSC tuner chip in this radio as we would a TV, why should we pay all that money just to receive the audio?" That question is likely one to be asked by the manufacturers of these radios, and probably one that should be asked by the consumers as well.

There are issues with portable TVs, though. As said earlier, due to the way the ATSC signal is broadcast, it is very difficult to receive a usable ATSC signal while moving. That problem compounded by how difficult it is to simply receive an ATSC signal on a small portable antenna while standing still. A small portable antenna plus being on the move plus the ATSC signal probably equals a pretty black screen in most cases.