Radios - All Band, Solar, Battery - Questions

We want to get a radio (mainly for receiving) and don't know where to start. My husband found one that's powered by solar, batteries, hand crank and electricity, but it was only $40... That sounds awful cheap, right?

We want something that has the most options as far as communications and power. We're not that interested in transmitting, we just want to be able to tell what's going on out there.

Does anyone have any information on a good brand or what we might be looking to pay for a good radio?

I saw this thread and will read over it, but if you have any additional information, I would appreciate it! Thanks!

www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 5-7-2008 by Benevolent Heretic]

I suggest you get one of each. The wind-up radios are good. Two way communications or HAM equipment has few options because of power requirements mainly for transmission.

A word of advise, in the event of nuclear war or attacks it is possible that no radios or electronic devices will work in the aftermath of a large EMP. In that case try shouting a request for news or information as loud as you possibly can and hope for an answer.

[edit on 5-7-2008 by The_Alarmist2012]

Hey heretic!

Well if your after a radio that just receives then you can pick up some medium frequency and Low frequency (the main ones used by the civil and goverment agencies) for quite a nice price. Choosing which one you want I suppose is just your preference but one thing you might want to consider is Aerial position. Putting it in the middle of valley is like trying to listen to a song through ear defenders, so the best place for an aierial is nice and high and at 90 degrees from the ground thus you can get the best reception.

As for the power supply, it mainly depends on the unit you use but most are DC power supply so batteries and solar power are all ok. I mean you could even connect an AC power supply to it and use a wheat stone bridge type connection to convert it to DC.

But the main issue is going to be licensing, some countries are unhappy and very careful with radio licenses for reception and transmission but you'd need to research it more. Then again your just recieving so I doubt you'll have much of a problem, it would be a good idea for you to try going on a few amatuer radio courses thus increasing your knowledge and thus your ability to operate and repair it.

Its really all up to you

reply to post by The_Alarmist2012

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"A word of advise, in the event of nuclear war or attacks it is possible that no radios or electronic devices will work in the aftermath of a large EMP."

Its possible to protect equipment with a Faraday Cage

en.wikipedia.org...

a few old anti-static bags should do the trick