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#225459 - 06/08/11 06:26 AM Re: Emergency Radio [Re: Outdoor_Quest]
fooman Offline
Journeyman

Registered: 05/15/08
Posts: 80
I have the Tecsun Green 88 which appears to be the OEM version of the Grundig FR200. Its a nice radio with a choice of power sources. The flashlight is handy to have, but the dial isn't illuminated. Can't have everything I guess. I also found it tricky to tune to SW stations which are close together. Took quite a bit of fiddling with the fine knob.

The Nicd battery looks like the type you find in some cordless phones and you can run off 3 AAs and wall wart as well(not included). The Nicd battery got really warm after a few hours with the wall wart plugged in, so I wouldn't leave it plugged in as standby.

An alternative would be to rely on rechargeable AA by solar power as suggested by Les above.

I've been thinking about the TECSUN PL-380 DSP radio as its rechargeable via USB, and auto and solar USB chargers are becoming common. I have the Joos Orange charger which I like a lot.

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#226133 - 06/17/11 06:20 PM Re: Emergency Radio [Re: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor]
Am_Fear_Liath_Mor Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/03/07
Posts: 3078


The portable X-mini II Capsule Speaker will improve the audio quality of most small portable devices such as MP3 audio devices, Cellular Telephones, portable SW and DAB radios etc. The audio quality using a cheap portable $30 Lava40 DAB radio was excellent. It is very small and compact as well.

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#226144 - 06/17/11 11:01 PM Re: Emergency Radio [Re: Outdoor_Quest]
mpb
Unregistered


KISS

thats the trick!
A standad batterie powerd radio, NiCa's and a solar recharger.

Works for us the past 20 years, don't se why it should not work in the future.

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#226145 - 06/17/11 11:03 PM Re: Emergency Radio [Re: Byrd_Huntr]
comms Offline
Veteran

Registered: 07/23/08
Posts: 1502
Loc: Mesa, AZ
Originally Posted By: Byrd_Huntr


A quick update. As found in an earlier entry of this thread I purchased a Gundig 400 at REI a few months back. I have used many times in and out of my house and one a few bike rides of 3-4 hours in areas where I do not have cell phone reception to stream radio apps through my iPhone. (using Oo Tunes)

Use in residential areas and locations close to suburbia but otherwise cannot get cell streaming (specifically the Bush Hwy near Saguaro lake) the reception is good. I would say great if the digital dial did not drift off channel a few digits causing loss of reception. Even with the Hold in place, it still drifts.

The sound production is as good as expected for these areas.

I took the radio to Canyon Lake deep in the Tonto National Park, my usual training grounds with zero cell service for any carrier for at least ten miles. In the past I have used larger boom boxes out here with decent reception and of course car radio reception is decent. The Grundig was terrible at reception and I turned it off after attempting several large stations.

I am a bit disappointed. I expected the reception to be as decent as a a boom box or car. Maybe more a failure in my expectations with limited experience rather than a failure of the radio.

Thus, I recommend the Grundig for the intended purpose I believe I mentioned in my earlier posting. A portable am/fm radio with external speaker for emergency and recreational purposes in a urban or bug in situation. Based on my albeit limited sampling, I do not recommend this unit for any travel outside of large urban areas or spotty reception.

I may purchase the 'transitor' radio in the link above as a comparative. The quest continues?
_________________________
Don't just survive. Thrive.

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#226154 - 06/18/11 02:04 AM Re: Emergency Radio [Re: ]
Bingley Offline
Veteran

Registered: 02/27/08
Posts: 1576
Though many people like emergency radios, I am not one of them. They actually don't seem all that ideal in an emergency situation.

Size. In order to include generators (hand crank, solar, or anything else), emergency radios tend to be a bit on the big side.

Reliability. I don't like tools with too many functions. They tend not to be robust. Some emergency radios do AM/FM & NOAA, and can shine light, recharge your cell phone, cook dinner for you, etc. That's just more things that can break. I like splitting up these functions into different tools.

Power generation. In an emergency, do you really want to waste your precious physical energy cranking the radio for a full minute just to get sixty minutes of power? Maybe you are hurt. A stash of batteries, to me, is a much better solution. Four AA batteries can keep a small radio running till kingdom come.

I'd suggest a high quality radio like the Sony ICF-S10MK2, which costs under $15. Hams apparently love this radio because it's so sensitive, and offers analog tuning. This allows it to pull in distant stations that digital radios can't. Add a small, hand-held weather radio with SAME encoding. Then some batteries. This setup will take up less or the same amount of space, and it will be more robust and convenient in an emergency.

In a weather-related disaster (tornado, hurricane, etc.), you can monitor the weather on the weather radio, and get crucial information from local radio stations at the same time. If one radio dies, you can still get some information from the other. And you don't have to crank, shake, etc. Just make sure you have your own flashlight and battery-powered cell phone charger.


Da Bing

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#226797 - 06/27/11 10:56 PM Re: Emergency Radio [Re: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor]
Am_Fear_Liath_Mor Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/03/07
Posts: 3078


If FM radio stations are all that is required then the Sony Ericsson MW600 Stereo Bluetooth Adapter has a nice little FM radio receiver built in. It even has a RDS display. cool The sound quality of the Stereo Bluetooth is pretty darn good as well with the supplied ear bud type headphones.

The adapter weighs less around 13 gms and is about the size of a AA Cell.


Edited by Am_Fear_Liath_Mor (06/27/11 10:56 PM)

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#226838 - 06/28/11 01:29 PM Re: Emergency Radio [Re: Outdoor_Quest]
sotto Offline
Addict

Registered: 06/04/03
Posts: 450
Well, not to be too disparaging, but I seriously wonder what really useful information a person might get by listening to the radio in an emergency situation these days? I have a couple good battery radios, including various transceivers (I've been a ham since 1973), but I'm not optimistic. Anybody have any direct experience, like from the Katrina situation for example? How useful was a battery am/fm radio receiver in that particular disaster?

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#226841 - 06/28/11 01:47 PM Re: Emergency Radio [Re: sotto]
Eastree Offline
Journeyman

Registered: 06/15/11
Posts: 62
Originally Posted By: sotto
Well, not to be too disparaging, but I seriously wonder what really useful information a person might get by listening to the radio in an emergency situation these days? I have a couple good battery radios, including various transceivers (I've been a ham since 1973), but I'm not optimistic. Anybody have any direct experience, like from the Katrina situation for example? How useful was a battery am/fm radio receiver in that particular disaster?


I lived in the New Orleans metro area at that time, and had an emergency radio (AM, FM, weather bands, and a flashlight).

One of the problems was having no knowledge of what frequencies were locally available on the weather bands; anything else broadcasting emergency data (some broadcasters went back to music almost immediately with no more than sporadic updates) kept spouting the same five minutes of information, most of which was not much help. It took several days to hear a location listing relief supplies in our area. It's not that sources of help weren't being broadcast, but it wasn't being made available nearly as often as the drudgery of cookie-cutter snippets being fed at almost all hours of the day.

When electricity was finally restored in my area, television broadcasts were basically the same except, of course, video footage.


Edited by Eastree (06/28/11 01:47 PM)

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#226908 - 06/29/11 04:03 PM Re: Emergency Radio [Re: sotto]
Blast Offline
INTERCEPTOR
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 07/15/02
Posts: 3760
Loc: TX
Originally Posted By: sotto
Well, not to be too disparaging, but I seriously wonder what really useful information a person might get by listening to the radio in an emergency situation these days? I have a couple good battery radios, including various transceivers (I've been a ham since 1973), but I'm not optimistic. Anybody have any direct experience, like from the Katrina situation for example? How useful was a battery am/fm radio receiver in that particular disaster?


In the days after hurricane Ike radios were the primary source of information. I kept a small battery-powered radio on around me at all times because it was so useful!! Since we didn't have power or phone lines, tv's and the internet weren't available. Most radio stations moved away from their regular formats and focused on delivering news such as where FEMA was passing stuff out, tips on dealing with insurance, estimates as to when power would be restored, gas stations that were open, and a plethera of other useful information. Not only was this information useful, but the effect it had on morale was just as important. The radios gave me and my neighbors links to the outside world. Plus we really enjoyed making fun of the miserable people calling in to complain that help wasn't coming fast enough while we were partying because our neighborhood was prepared. grin

-Blast
_________________________
Foraging Texas
Medicine Man Plant Co.
DrMerriwether on YouTube
Radio Call Sign: KI5BOG
*As an Amazon Influencer, I may earn a sales commission on Amazon links in my posts.

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#226954 - 06/30/11 06:45 AM Re: Emergency Radio [Re: sotto]
Bingley Offline
Veteran

Registered: 02/27/08
Posts: 1576
Originally Posted By: sotto
Well, not to be too disparaging, but I seriously wonder what really useful information a person might get by listening to the radio in an emergency situation these days? I have a couple good battery radios, including various transceivers (I've been a ham since 1973), but I'm not optimistic. Anybody have any direct experience, like from the Katrina situation for example? How useful was a battery am/fm radio receiver in that particular disaster?


If the power grid goes down, you probably won't have TV, internet, and phone -- well, maybe not if you have a landline, but who has a landline these days? So the radio can become the only source of outside information. And I'd think power would be one of the first things to go.

Thus far the radio has served me well in extreme weather, though I have not encountered Katrina-scale disasters. But like another poster said, frequently the broadcast information is repetitive and not necessarily directly relevant. The broadcasters are just throwing everything they know at you. But that's often better than trying to get information yourself.

Da Bing

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