Yea I’m a Radio Nerd, I love all my big radios.


As far as the original post, if you don’t listen to shortwave now, I don’t see that changing in a bug out situation. Go with a good portable AM FM radio.


But if you have an interest in developing shortwave listening as a hobby then a shortwave portable would be a good choice to start with. At least till you decide what area of shortwave you want to listen to. Then it’s still a handy radio to have for traveling.


I like and search out military SSB (Coast Guard, USAF Aircraft, Hurricane Hunters and the like) and also distant broadcast band DXing. The portable Sangean works well for the Broadcast Band, but not so well for distant SSB transmissions. The Icom works for everything. When JFK Jr’s plane went down I listened to the search effort for a while till they switched to VHF. But to pickup S&R operations you almost have to have a radio parked on S&R frequencies all the time and have it running in the background. This is not going to be popular with other family members.

Shortwave can be fun to play with, other then the religious broadcasters that are on 24-7. Don’t let the flood of them chase you away from it.