As you have probably seen on the news, we had some pretty severe weather in NC yesterday. I live in Fayetteville, NC, and the tornado's track was centered about a mile from my house. We lost power and cable, and I do not currently own an emergency radio, which will shortly be rectified. We knew something bad was happening, but had no outside connection except my iphone and some weather applications, which did prove very useful, until the cell phone system dropped as well. We did not get anything back until this afternoon (17 April). So now I am shopping for a good emergency radio which can operate from multiple power sources. Recommendations anyone?

Shortly after the tornado passed (and the weather cleared quickly, making it seem surreal) I went to see what happened and how I could help. I took everything I could carry in my car. It was very good to see how everyone pulled together and immediately began to get control of the situation, even before the emergency crews arrived. This is a military town, and the affect of that was evident in the orderliness of the population in the area. Soldiers and retired soldiers were directing traffic, casualty collection centers were established with trained medics, rescue began right away, and supplies such as food and water was immediately being distributed. Everyone was accounting for their neighbors and providing shelter and transportation to shelters. I was very proud of my community. We were blessed that we had no more casualties than we did.

Glad to hear you all are pulling together. Tornadoes suck - I would rather deal with earthquakes, a fortunate circumstance given my location.

I have an Eton model, runs on AC (when I get the adapter), but also on three AA batteries, as well as a hand crank. It has a weather band. I wouldn't be without a weather radio in tornado country, or earthquake country, either.

It's good to hear that your community pulled together. A tornado touched down in our town last year and as sad as it was to see, some of us tried to get in and help only to be stopped and scolded by people because they thought we were "sight-seeing". I too have been searching for a good multi-band radio. I have a police scanner and a weather scanner, but these are all but useless after the danger has passed and the power is out. Eton and Grundig come up everywhere I search, but are there better without having to pay through the nose?

Glad you're ok Montanero. Sounds like quite a day in NC! My-in laws were about a mile away from a twister too and have had the same thought about a weather radio. Sounds like a great idea!

We've got a Grundig FR-200. It was a gift and not at all high end but does the job. It runs on ac power, 3 AAs or crank. There's also another wrapped battery pack in there that I just noticed. I'll have to find out more about.

I've seen more advanced models that have a solar charger too.

I don't know much about them, but the NOAA-type radios that turn on automatically when there is a local alert sound good to me.

This weather radio site seems to have a good selection, maybe it can give you some ideas on what features you want.

I'm glad your area wasn't hit as hard as some were.

Sue

I've used a Grundig FR200 (same as Eton) as bacpackac noted for about 10 years, and the NiMh batteries are still operable with the hand crank... there are probably better units available now, but it does as required...use a small battery portable digital TV for entertainment during long power outages...

for NOAA warning as Susan commented, if you get one that allows you to program your specific geographic area code (SAME circuitry), it cuts down on the false alarms

Thanks Les!

Radio shack has sometime sales on the Eton brands; good buys then. I've only seen sales prices advertised when I walk into the stores, not usually in the media: http://www.radioshack.com/family/index.j...rodsInSession=1

C. Crane sells excellent stuff: http://www.ccrane.com/radios/weather-radios/

Good to hear ya'll handled everything,Above&Beyond!I have an Eton FR-400 that has proven it's worth to me for the last 4yrs,Multi-powered-crank,4-AA,a/c adapter & Is armored in rubber,& Water resistant.I fumbled it about a year ago,watched it tumble down close to 250 yds of sandstone cliff into the Great Pacific,Thrashed myself decently fetching it,hauled it up topside,cleaned it like a field stripped AKM,& It came on & performed like a Valmet,Only the rubber housing guards had teeth marks!I paid $60 for it in '07 at an NRA gunshow in Virginny!

I got an ETON radio, AM/FM/weather bands, operates solar, batteries, windup, AC w/converter. Has a flashlight and flasher onboard also. Bed Bath and Beyond used to have them (Cross Creek Plaza) and I am pretty sure that Radio Shack still does. Without this radio we wouldn't have had a clue Saturday, we had no bad weather, but the radio went off and told us about the tornadoes up by post. Also, think about spending $8 on the WRAL weather call. More than once the call has alerted us to bad weather before we knew it was coming in.

No affiliations to any of the places/things mentioned above, other than I know the area where Montanero lives, more or less, as I live just south of there.