Todd,<br><br>If you don't mind, I'll just cut-and-paste an extract from an e-mail I sent to a friend some time ago. It's a little long (gee, that's gonna shock everybody..) but it contains just about everything I know about them..<br><br>______________<br><br>There are lots of tiny portable FM radios going for less than $10<br>apiece on eBay, but I've noticed that most of them seem to have the<br>headphones (uh.. earbuds) permanently attached. I can see why, it<br>probably saves a few cents on an item where that might be a<br>significant part of the profit margin, but these things also use the<br>headphone cord as an antenna, which might be easier if you know what<br>the headphone cord is for sure. They all seem to be made in China.<br><br>Ok, so I bought one of these at the mall, made by "FM Sounds"<br>(no-name), and here's my initial impressions. The thing is the size<br>and weight of a filled matchbox- really light. In fact, there's this<br>little chrome chain on one corner with a chrome clip on it, and<br>together I think the chain and clip account for about a third the<br>weight- I may remove them. Controls are very basic, but adequate-<br>there's a switch for "off", "low" and "high", meaning volume.<br>There's [censored] little difference between "low" and "high", but "low"<br>seems adequate. There's a button to scan up the channels, and one to<br>reset to the bottom of the band. Sound and tuning are amazingly,<br>surprisingly, good. The case feels pretty surprisingly robust, like a<br>pager, but doesn't give the impression of being water resistant at<br>all. It's so light it's hard to imagine it being damaged by dropping<br>it, even on concrete. I have no idea yet how long the little button<br>cell batteries will last, but hopefully driving the tiny earbuds<br>doesn't take much. This looks like it would do just fine for an<br>ultralight urban bugout kit. Cost $7.95<br><br>There's a website on the package, and that gets me to a product page.<br>Amazing that such El Cheapo stuff has it's own web pages, but that's<br>the times.. :<br><br>http://www.atcsd.com/rc_pager_radio.html<br><br>Too bad there's nothing to give scale. Stare, really look, at the<br>headphone connector. It looks outsized. It isn't.<br><br>Looking back at the index page,<br><br>http://www.atcsd.com/retail_consumer.html<br><br>there are some others that are interesting, but the objection about<br>permanently attached earbuds remains. Maybe I'm being silly about<br>that. This one:<br><br>http://www.atcsd.com/rc_worlds_smallest.html<br><br>shows up on eBay a lot.<br><br><br>

Thanks!, <br>What about AM or Shortwave? Does the group here think the extra money and size would be worth it in an urban survival situation?<br><br><br>The best way out is always through.<br>-Robert Frost

Shortwave transmission has the potential for extremely long carry, like intercontinental under the right circumstances, so it has traditionally been thought of as a good possible method of emergency communication. However, unless you are talking about an armageddon scenario, FM reception is all you are going to need or want to keep informed of local conditions and in touch with national and global developments through local news programming.<br><br>

Personally, I keep a couple of older-model FreePlay (formerly BayGen) hand-crank radios around, one AM/FM with a photocell array, and another AM/FM/SW without. I appreciate the fact that I don't have to worry about batteries dying in storage, dying in use, or leaking. However, while great for home, they're WAY too big and bulky for any sort of carrying kit.<br><br>The smallest portable SW I've seen is probably 6-8 oz. For 6-8 times the weight penalty of FM alone, I'll pass. The object of the "urban bugout" kit is to get me out of a city- I don't need the longer range of AM, and if the only news being broadcast is on SW... well, that's probably really, really bad news. Getting out of the city might not help at that point.<br><br>

You guys might be interested in this:<br><br>http://itscool.com/roguewarrior/terrorism.htm<br><br>I read Marcinko's original book 15 years ago and enjoyed it, have not read his fiction.<br><br>Prophetic words!<br><br>

I keep a Swiss Card, a number of butterfly plasters and a spare credit card in my Palm computer wallet, just in case. <br><br><br>

I carry one of these http://www.atcsd.com/rc_worlds_smallest.html<br>small radios in my work bag. Slips easily into one of the pockets in the bag and lets me keep in contact with the local news and travel when I am at various clients. I used it last year when, locally, we were suffering floods and the local radio station ran regular news bulletins.<br><br>I'd recommend it for an emergency carry.<br><br><br>

>>Any "deactivated" cell phone can be used to dial 911 for free and in most, if not all areas, it can also be used to place a call to any other number if the call is billed collect or to a calling card number or credit card number (at a pretty high rate, like maybe $1/minute plus something like a $1-$2 connection charge). <<<br><br>I'm reluctant to test the 911 feature. I did try calling my own number from my deactivated StarTac (Verizon), and got a recorded error message, no opportunity to do anything. The fact that it works at all leads me to suspect that 911 might work...Maryland suburbs of DC.<br><br>

I am reluctant to try 911 as well, especially this week. But I did call my office number from home. I got a recorded message that they did not recognize my phone and to call a number if I felt that was in error. And to stay on the line to place a credit card call. So it does work and now I feel like I got an early X-mass present. Thanks, Chris.<br><br>Willie Vannerson<br>McHenry, IL

The call-any-number-with-deactivated-phone deal may not be available in your area. There is one other thing you can try, though. Your phone has a setting that forces it to communicate with one particular cellular company in your area (Verizon?). The company your phone is contacting may not be interested in providing this service, but maybe their competition does. If you change the setting, maybe you will connect to the other company and be offered the service.<br><br>I don't know how to program your phone, but generally you would access the programming menu and there will be a setting for "A" or "B" designating the A system or the B system (the 2 primary carriers in any market area). Check your manual for better information on the details of this (don't you wish you saved that manual?). It may be worth a try. Good luck.<br><br>