Then again, an old analog AM/FM radio may be all that’s needed. This morning I pulled out an older Sony ICF-38 — analog, 4xAA batteries, power-cord wrapped inside.

Okay, I’m a radio-junkie, but no, I didn’t pay $189 for it, more like $25; but I guess it’s a collector’s item or something. I haven’t turned this radio on in years, but accidentally moved the power switch while handling and it turned on, nice sound. I didn’t realize I’d left batteries in it. Yep, four AA Eneloops, with enough charge remaining to listen to the news for a bit. Before they died, I removed the batteries, charged them back to full and put them back in — good to go for another couple years. The latest here indicates the weather that convinced PG&E to shutdown power in the bay area is moving south, so that radio may be put to work sooner than I thought.

Another set of Eneloops are charging now for the CountyComm GP-5 Nice thing is that AA batteries are easily recharged if the grid goes down; those little backpack-able solar panels really are useful.

As for a decent analog radio: May I recommend the Panasonic RF-2400D AM / FM Radio as an alternative at less than $30. Review here.

when I was a classroom teacher on the Central West Coast of Florida, I gave a yearly emergency management lab on preparedness... my key emphasis was in fact to MAKE A PLAN...it involved many areas commonly identified, but with emphasis on when to put the plan into operation... that is to have a definite go-no go indicator...

there is an old adage in political science.. if you place a frog in a pot of cool water and gradually heat the water over a period of time, you can boil the frog as it will not notice the slight amount of day to day change... compare that to dropping a frog into a pan of boiling water where the frog immediately jumps out...it is hard to determine the degradation of the situation if the change is slow... have a definite, identifiable, situation or event that causes your immediate action

and for some situations a PACE model of alternative actions might be of use
P primary
A alternative
C contingency
E emergency

AM radio is a good way to stay connected and up to speed with current events. One of the issues with AM reception is having a decent radio, the other is having a better antenna. The nice thing about AM radio is that it propagates really well at night (after the sun goes down) and you can receive radio stations from a great distance. During the day it’s another thing entirely so you need a better antenna for improved reception:

One antenna that seems to work well with AM radios can be fabricated out of relatively common items.
How to build a Milk Crate AM Broadcast Loop Antenna

So you make one of these milk-crate antenna’s and then what? Put the (in my case battery powered, portable) AM radio inside the crate (which is laying on its side), use the capacitor to “tune” the antenna to whichever station the radio is on (listen as you adjust the capacitor), and then orient the crate to optimize signal gain of the loop. The antenna couples to the radio inductively — essentially, the ferrite rod antenna couples to the loop milk-crate antenna for increased signal gain.

If you’re interested, there are better explanations on the web.

Okay, I kinda liked the Tecsun PL-880 and now that’s it’s in hand and turned on, I do like it. I need to review/relearn the Tecsun tuning system again, it’s not intuitive. The PL-880’s tuning is similar to the Tecsun PL-360/CC GP-5 so the radio controls are familiar.

If you know the channel you want it’s easy to tune it in. Scanning the spectrum and putting stations into memory is another thing and the ETM system is another — not difficult, just different. Regardless, it is easier to use than the CC GP-5 simply because the buttons are bigger and the knobs have a better feel. It also has a fine tuning knob which is absent on the GP-5. For those interested in SW, it does have SSB.

BTW, the PL-880 is powered by an Li-Ion 18650 and the radio arrived with a 2000mAh battery. The radio reportedly has a smart charger built in, haven’t tried it.