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Emergency Gadgets Reviewed
Carl Bialik writes "When power lines go down, hand-cranked radios and standalone cellphone chargers could come in handy. Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg reviews emergency gadgets, including a $50 radio that picks up TV audio and gets 35 minutes of power from a 30-second crank. Of course, Mossberg also offers the caveat that these gadgets could be rendered useless 'should the communications infrastructure itself go down.'"
Fire extinguisher. You know, for when the servers catch fire during the slashdotting.
It doesn't have a handcrank but it has a pump and a trigger.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
After thirty seconds of cranking I'm usually asleep for thirty-five minutes!
;)
Sorry, I couldn't resist
As anyone who has lived in the 3rd world can tell you, you can pick up TV on ordinary FM radios it is a matter of tuning it to the right frequency. I have seen these things in Asia for years.
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
Compact Power Systems also introduced a product called the iRecharge, a rechargeable portable battery that fits snugly around your iPod, iPod mini or iPod shuffle giving the iPod and iPod mini 12 hours of extra play time and the iPod shuffle 40 extra hours.
I mean, in an emergency, I want my iPod recharged!
I don't see many people during a disaster, finding the manual, and trying to find out how to use the power switch - "Hmmmm, now how do use the on switch?"
Evil people don't think they're evil. - George Lucas, Making of Ep III
Anyone have a hand-crankable EMP?
The $50 radio that picks up TV audio will be useless when the mandatory switch to digital OTA broadcasts occurs. (Unless something interesting will be broadcast on those frequencies after that point.)
Mossberg also offers the caveat that these gadgets could be rendered useless 'should the communications infrastructure itself go down.'"
He doesn't even mention what would happen if your arms fall off. Myself, I'm setting up a nuclear-powered radio station/TV studio so if the communications infrastructure goes down I'm covered.
If you're charging your iPod you aren't having a fucking emergency.
A radio could be quite useful, but not nearly as useful as a couple of cases of bottled water.
-Peter
I haven't been paying that much attention to what happened with cell service in Hurricane Katrina, but AFAIK, it was 'down' for quite some time. I think the infastructure 'going down' is a lot greater possibility than people think.
Probably your smartest move is just to have a lot of canned food and water and some medical supplies available so you can wait out whatever disaster should come your way.
I'm sure most of the people in N.O. weren't thinking, damn, I wish I could watch the latest INXS rockstar on my vcast phone :)
Since when did operating systems become a religion?
A hand-cranked device that could produce 3-5 days of food and water would probably be popular.
[...]these gadgets could be rendered useless 'should the communications infrastructure itself go down.'
If you can no longer get shortwave signals on your radio because the communications infrastructure itself went down, listening to the latest news is the least of your problems. You should be looking for the stone ax and the closest cave to move into.
I have been using my original Freeplay radio for about 8 years now.
Unlike the more recent models, it operates on a spring driven generator for about 45 minutes, or in sunlight. It has no internal batteries at all.
The lack of batteries is a Very Good Thing. Rechargable batteries die, and sometimes they short out. If so, you got no radio - cranked or solar.
The downside is that the radio is the size of a loaf of bread. The upside is that it has a very large speaker and very nice sound.
I toyed with the idea of adding an external power tap, but there are dire warnings about opening it up and releasing the giant spring. Someday perhaps...
Sweet, now I can listen to the Playboy channel when the Apocalypse comes. Nothin better than a little porn to calm those nerves.
Compact Power Systems also introduced a product called the iRecharge, a rechargeable portable battery that fits snugly around your iPod, iPod mini or iPod shuffle giving the iPod and iPod mini 12 hours of extra play time and the iPod shuffle 40 extra hours. It has an on/off switch, so you can charge your iPod as needed, as well as a charge-level indicator that glows to tell you how much juice is left.
My house is destroyed, I have no food and water, but thank god I can still listen to U2 - Vertigo!
I can get 35 minutes of pleasure from a 30 second crank.
While there may be value to hearing whats going on in an emergency, I'd be able to actually call for help should I need it.
A technicians-class FCC license is very easy to get, and small handheld tranceivers are not very expensive.
Thats MUCH more useful in an emergency than a TV. I can hear the weater broadcasts, radio, and emergency bands and much more usefully, I can actually transmit.
How long before the crank Victrola returns, so that you can share your music while waiting to be rescued from your roof?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
What are "standalone cellphone chargers"? Surely it would be just as good to have a spare, fully charged battery rather than something running from batteries charging the cell phone battery.
Unless, of course, the charger ran solar power. Maybe they should just make a solar cell cellular phone for just this situation.
Matthew Grint Midnight Artists
Copies of Slashdot screenshots printed and laminated.
You know, those weird dads that have the big antennas on their roofs? Every suburb has at least one. Go talk to them and learn how it works. It will be the only reliable way after a real catastrophe hits.
They review two crank radios and then extra battery cells for your cell phone and iPod? How 'bout an actual review of several hand crank radios. At the local Radio Shack they had three different ones, as does Sharper Image and other stores. Just because it says "Wall Street Journal" doesn't mean its useful.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
It's a cheap gizmo for the beach or a day outing, not a sturdy radio for emergencies. Of course, an iPod charger isn't exactly an "Emergency Device" either.
What I'm really looking looking for:
There are several radios which use which have some of this feature set, but it seems like there is a market for a radio which has all of these features.
To be truthful, I want a pony.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
I hope the people of Texas are prepared! http://www.redcross.org/services/prepare/0,1082,0_ 253_,00.html Hurricane Rita http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT18/refres h/AL1805W+gif/084857W_sm.gif is sporting 140 mph winds as of today!
Newt-dog
My Doctor prescribed daily nasal saline irrigation, hehe
I staffed the Emergency Preparedness booh at out local Bad Art and Overpriced Wine Street Fair last weekend. People love to show their tech-savvy gadgets - but are you really prepared?
Buckets. Emergency tech is low tech. You are going to care less about whether your Treo works and more about clean water and a warm place to take a dump. (Store your water in jerry cans, obviously, not buckets.)
And don't wait. The entire Houston area was all out of plywood by Monday night, according to a friend of mine there.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
For connecting between multiple 12 volt DC powersources and 12 volt loads - a frequently recommended connector is the Anderson Powerpole.
. html
I have a few sealed lead acid batteries for emergencies -
portable - 12v 2.5Ah SLA with blade connectors for the battery and a choice between Anderson Powerpole and a connector for my VX5 handheld tri-band transceiver - can get WX, FM, AM, and transmit on 2m 70cm, and 6m.
for base station - a 12V 75Ah SLA with Anderson Powerpole connectors and a connector that can bridge the Anderson powerpoles and the power connection for my base or mobile transceivers - a Yaesu FT-1500M, a FT-857D, and a FT-7800.
Info on the Anderson Powerpole connector is at http://www.scc-ares-races.org/hardware/andersonpp
The Boy Scout Motto - Be Prepared
Peter AI6PG
Gebyy zl oruvaq...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
My comments are mine alone, and do not represent the views of my employer, friends, family or cats.
My comments are my own, and do not represent the views of my employer, my spouse, my children, or my cats.
When searching for info for my parents who were concerned about losing their reef tank when Rita hits and takes out the power, I ran into a page discussing how you can hook up a car battery to run an old UPS. It got me wondering - couldn't you hook up, in the same manner, a UPS to a car battery that is still hooked up inside a car, and run the car so that it's alternator basically acts like a generator and your UPS as the inverter? Sounds like it might be an easy way to make a portable generator. Aren't alternators usually capable of up to 800 watts or so?
Also, I can kill you with my brain.
I put the hamsters to work. Still enough to power an embedded Linux device.
Wow, that's getting your priorities in order.
You should get one of the hand-cranked radios anyway, to make sure you don't run out of power.
$50 and it even has a built in cellphone charger, which could likely be easily adapted to charge your handheld.
I think most of the HT's out there accept a pretty wide range of voltages for charging purposes.
Having the recieve capability is useful too, and it seems that you've got most of it covered in your handheld, but it doesn't hurt to have a backup. Someone on the ham emergency net needs to keep up with whatever (if anything) is coming over broadcast.
Incidentally, I have three 7 amp-hour gel-cell batteries I keep on float charge all the time. I can run my HT for a week, probably. I can even run the HF radio for short periods of time on these batteries (probably only low power CW operation though, my old Kenwood TS440s is not very good at converting DC to RF, efficiency-wise).
Need an excercise bike with a 12V 10-20A generator on it for battery charging, I think...
This fucking article sucks dick. Barely any items were reviewed...what the fuck slashdot? try again.
Take a look at http://www.radios4you.com/ or http://www.kaitousa.com/ and invest in a radio that also does shortwave if you're looking for an emergency radio. For far less than the $50 you'd spend on the yuppie crud in TFA, you can pick up a solar/crank/charger model and a decent antenna reel, which would let you pick up broadcasts from europe, cuba, the USA, the caribbean (BBC news), or just about anywhere else. All you lose is _local_ broadcasts when the communication infrastructure takes a nose-dive.
First of all, it's a linear generator, so each time the weight inside crosses the center it makes power; second, it uses an LED which is much lower power than old incandescent bulbs; and third, it has a supercapacitor which can power the LED for a few minutes with 30 seconds of shaking. Just be sure to shake it horizontally, as the instructions warn that you might break it if the weight hits an end too hard on a vertical downstroke.
The best part is you never have to worry about the batteries running down or leaking when you don't use it, and you never have to avoid using regularly for fear of running the batteries down. It has a power switch, so you can shake it up and use it as needed, then just shake it again when it runs down.
Slashdot readers would be recommended to get the "red" model, as that is translucent and you can see the guts of it operating, for higher geek value.
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
I have two cars. One doesn't go out even when it rains, much less some emergency going on. There's pleanty of power sources around to keep a little Yaseu radio powered.
If civilization itself is melting down, I think I'll have other concerns...
But will these devices work well enough to be heard perfectly, going 70 mph in a convertible with the top down?
Considering I live in houston and I'm about to be hit by hurricane rita. This would be pretty nice right about now. Thanks for whomever posted this.
Those of us who are really prepared don't both with the 'gadgets' and just cover all our bases at once. We buy a gas powered generator (I live in Florida)
The only real problem is that the noise will attract all the neighbors who aren't prepared and come looking for cold food...... =/
Technology, the cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
Remember your water heater -- lots of clean water there. Turn off the input valve in case the water supply gets contaminated.
Get a good water filter, and possibly something to kill viruses, like iodine.
Unlimited growth == Cancer.
In the corporate Security Dept. where I work, we take it in turns to do a shotr 20min presentation at our weekly meetings - the subject is up to us, but obviously computer security subjects. I did my first one on the Columbia and Challenger shuttle accidents, and the accident enquiry board's reports into each (they're both absolutely fascinating, if you can find the time, highly recommended.) And both accidents have a lot of lessons for security. "Don't use powerpoint to communicate technical information to managers", for starters ;)
Rather to my surprise the feedback was that it was excellent and very interesting... only the second time I'd stood up in front of Powerpoint in my life.
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
Would increasing a state's sales tax by .01% provide enough revenue to send each household one of these emergency radios as well as 2 weeks worth of MRE's, water, and a first-aid kit, every year?
What better way to help prevent the large scale suffering that so many endured during Katrina while waiting for rescue efforts.
Abstinence is a government conspiracy. www.SafeSexZone.co
I know I'm just feeding a troll here, but what the hell. Have you looked at your post history? It's not just that one first post that burned your karma. You have long a track record of being off topic, trolling, and generally having nothing interesting to say. What did you expect would happen?
It will still receive AM
It will still receive FM
It will still receive NOAA Weather Channels
It will still recharge your cell phone
It will still recharge AA batteries
It will still function as a flashlight
That's an odd definition of 'useless'.
Lots of places sell small solar panels specifically for Ham Radio use in emergencies.
See Ham Radio Outlet and search their catalog.
But I'll up the GP one -- don't stop at Technician, get your General Class ticket. Techs can't really communicate without infrastructure (simplex VHF is normally very short range). General Class and above can use HF, and that is usable for long distance communication without any infrastructure at all. I've run voice on 17 meters from Colorado to New Zealand using a backpack radio many times. NVIS on 40 and 75 provides reliable regional communications with nothing more complicated than 100 feet of wire.
Liberty you never use is liberty you lose.
Talking about plywood: why don't people in hurricane areas install shutters on their windows?
Or at least put the plywood on hinges?
Hanging on the side of the house with a drill before every storm can't be that much fun.
your point and you're absolutely right. But my point is, that during a natural or unnatural disaster, the police are ineffective and it's up to us to protect ourselves.
Evil people don't think they're evil. - George Lucas, Making of Ep III
Planning for an emergency means planning to meet you (and other's) needs. It's not just a matter of 'having water' or food, or first aid supplies, or medicine, or communications gear, or clothing, or protection for the damp, or lighting, or identification, or cash, or 'comfort' items for your childern, or all the other things that are the list.
Try not to be so reactionary.
I mean what's the point to post if noone will ever see it..... Just like this reply I am typing won't be seen by anyone.
Some of us DO read at -1 you know.
People who can't bother to prepare themselves are only going to eat their emergency food and sell their radios.
Like it or not, there is always going to be a large part of the population that is going to expect the government to bail their ass out of every mess they get themselves into.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
and I'm digging the hell out of the 9 3.5kw rack mount UPS units I have.
:/
Just as a test, I plugged a 75 watt incandescent lamp and a 12" oscillating desk fan into one, it kept them running just fine for over nine hours before they low battery alarm started. I finally shut it down and went to bed after 11 hours of non stop power.
I bought a bunch of compact fluorescent blubs (which I replaced all my old bulbs with) and I figure one of these UPS units will run several of those bulbs for an easy 24 hours if I disconnect it's internal cooling fan.
I easily have power for several days, can't run the fridge or AC but I won't be sitting in the dark.
I can string a few extension cords around the house and have fluorescent lights, a small TV and a fan when everyone else is in the dark.
Large, HEAVY rack mount UPS system can be purchased used for pretty cheap. The shipping will kill you though. Best to buy them local if you can and pick them up yourself. Replacement batteries are about $4-$6 each on ebay.
Another easy thing to do. I have LOTS of empty coffee cans around here. Last night I filled them with water and froze them. My freezer is packed with lots of big cans of rock hard ice now. I turned the temp to MAX cold in the freezer and fridge and filled a bunch of 3 liter and 1 gallon bottles with water and they are in the fridge too.. The idea is to get everything as cold as it can get before the power goes out them move some of the ice cans down to the fridge. I should have cold, clean drinking water for me and my dog for several days.
Also, get a gallon of bleach and some coffee filters, you can filter and boil water if need be and add a 1/4 teaspoon of plain bleach. Rain water is usually much better to drink than ground water if you can catch any.
Canned goods are mandatory.
Propane lanterns are CHEAP and safe. A propane stove is also a good thing to have.
Think "CAMPING TRIP" What would you need to go camping in the woods away from stores and the rest of the world. In an emergency you WILL be cut off from these luxaries, like it or not.
If you are lucky enough to have a generator, has gas for it and check it out BEFORE the emergency to make sure it runs! And run cords from outside to inside to a power strip. DON'T wire it into your breaker box if the power goes out! You could get killed or burn your house down if the power comes back on.
Cell phone. Make sure you have a spare battery and a car charger. That is if your car doesn't go under water.
Pocket TV's are good to have, in some places you can listen to local TV audio on 87FM. A weather radio with weather alert is good too.
Flashlights and batteries. Duh.
Main thing, think ahead. Pay attention.
Well worth it..
After seeing what happened in New Orleans it seems the best place to get gear would be a camping store and a hardware store.
;)
- Water filter + spare filter
- Liquid fuel camp stove + at least 1 gallon of fuel
- Axe
- Emergency blanket (doubles as shelter)
- Multitool knife
- Walkie-talkie + spare batteries or solar charger
- LED flashlights (batteries last longer)
- A bunch of cheapo butane lighters
- Alcohol gel hand cleaner
- First-aid kit
- Wool blanket or synthetic filled sleeping bag
I'd put a generator under "optional". Same goes for a radio.
Any food should be in waterproof containers and either doesn't require cooking (nuts) or only requires boiling (pasta).
And if you live in a flood plain consider a rowboat.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Last time Houston got pounded by a hurricane was Allen in 1983 (IIRC). Ankle-deep glass downtown....
They do get flooded by tropical storms on a more regular basis - by the rain not the wind. By the time the storm has moved 40 ro 50 miles inland it's lost a lot of its punch.
Shutters are expensive. I probably would not have shutters on my house if I lived in Houston proper. Florida yes - are they required by code now, even, in some localities?
And recent studies have shown nailing plywood over your windows won't do that much good; it needs to be bolted directly into the frame of the house.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
Rule number one is that diversity is key to surviving.
Generators are great, but you're going to be very unhappy if it fails, or when you run out of fuel, or when you need mobility,...
this is pretty much useless in an emergency. 90% of all broadcast radio do not transmit useful information during emergencies.
A better device is a scabbed together set of pedals from a 10 speed and a alternator from a small car with a sproket fitted to the spindle.
pedaling at a leisurely pace you can generate 15-25 watts for extended periods of time. 100-200 watts for a short burst. this is enough to transmit a signal from a VHF or HF radio, charge your rechargeable flashlight for when night comes, put a charge back in your car battery to try and start it and escape the location you are in or simply be able to give you light at night (you can run 3-4 40watt equliviant compact flouresent lamps which gives you gobs of light for a home. Hell you can even charge your laptop, ipod, or run a portable dvd player. Hell four of these ran an entire ham radio station for 24 hours with 6 radios transmitting and recieving. (we were charging a bank of batteries, taking shifts of 20 minutes riding the chargers
99% of the mass market "emergency" items are simply toys designed to make people feel better while not having any real usefulness.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
STEP 1. Buy enough food and bottled water to last your family for at least three days.
n ists/dave_barry/2078085.htm
STEP 2. Put these supplies into your car.
STEP 3. Drive to Nebraska and remain there until Halloween.
See;
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/colum
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
Or, instead of silly radios of dubious value, you could get one of these http://www.survivaldealer.com/Merchant2/merchant.m vc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=USBC and use whatever hardware you want. Or this cool device http://windupradio.com/icp/isun.htm could also charge your cell phone. (Although it seems it's no longer available).
Perhaps there are some emergency situations where sunlight is not available, but I'd guess they're more the exception than the rule. This solution also allows you to use whatever hardware you want.
(BTW, even though I'm an AC, I am not at all affiliated with either of these companies).
Why is it that there are so many loud complaints about government when it helps individual citizens, but silence when government bails out corporations and the rich? I'm in the camp that thinks government is to help protect people. You obviously seem to be in the camp that government is there to protect the few at the top.
Abstinence is a government conspiracy. www.SafeSexZone.co
afaik a HAM radio requires a licence to operate, are there other types of 2 way radios that would be good during an emergency like a CB radio? and can you get it solar/crank operated?
A very useful emergency gadget would be a pre-assembled crystal radio kit - connect to ground and you'd be able to hear AM broadcasts with no power or cranking required.
If the g'vt kept the data on you that google does you'd better believe you'd be calling it "doing evil"
Here are some more gadgets for emergency situations that many people in NOLA either did or would have found useful in keeping themselves safe:
TaurusUSA
Also, I like what these guys offer: Rock River
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
As far as I'n concerned, iPods and cranks are entirely inseperable...
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
Houses with basements often have problems when the power goes out because the pumps fail. Short term, not a big deal. My last couple homes would be in trouble if I went over four hours without it in a heavy downpour. A few good straight-line winds or a digger/backhoe mistake, and I would get to spend quality time with a bucket.
After the second day without power I rigged up an old venturi pump that I used to drain my waterbed. (ha, my packrat collection finally pays out) Sure, leaving the faucet running cost a little bit of coin, but worked great in a pinch.
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
There was actually a lot of news coverage on how the ham operators stepped in when the normal communications infrastructure went down. According to the ARRL web site there were 1000 hams down there helping out.
Anyway, after watching the news I decided to get a ham license. I highly recommend the Now You're Talking Book (available from the arrl or amazon). After only a few days of studying I passed the test.
The entire Houston area was all out of plywood by Monday night, according to a friend of mine there.
Ah, plywood, truly an effective measure against hurricanes.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
I have a general class ham radio license and have a 2-meter radio in my 4WD truck and a smaller 2-meter radio that I keep in my backpack. There are two main types of radios that hams use, they use an HF radio for bouncing a signal off the ionosphere and talking to people hundreds or thousands of miles away. If they only want to talk to hams locally or in a nearby city they usually use a higher frequency radio such a 2-meter radio that does not bounce off the ionosphere.
About 5 years ago I had a girfriend who was a ham with a technican class license who had a 2-meter/440 radio in her car. If there was ever a disaster and got seperated we had agreed on which frequencys we should use to contact each other. It is not unusual to hear husbands and wives who are hams checking in with each other while one is at home and the other is doing errands. In a major disaster they should still be able to stay in touch with each other.
I have several battery packs for the 2-meter radio that I keep in my backpack. One is rechageable and the other battery pack is not rechargeable but contains AA alkaline batteries which can be replaced from the extra stash that I always keep on hand. Here in Arizona there are ham radio repeater stations on my of the mountain tops. Most repeater stations have battery and/or solar power backup. The can be used to communicate with hams who live 100 miles or so away on the other side of the nearby mountains. The ARRL has some info about becoming a ham. Most of the local hams all know each others name and callsign.
I also keep several LED flashlights around such as the Pack-lite which are so efficient that they will run for 200 hours on high and 1,200 hours on low. I also keep a couple of 5-gallon cans of water in the back of my truck.
...would include an iPod recharger in a review of "emergency power systems."
I've always been told that it's unreasonable to expect a full aid to reach you in the first 72 hours after a disaster (especially if you're in a huge shelter - getting food to thousands or tens of thousands of people at a time when infrastructure is destroyed or extremely stressed can be problematic to say the least). So, I've assembled what is called a 72 hour kit. It has:
Clothing - 1 or 2 sets of sturdy work clothing (jeans, shirt, etc.), socks, an old pair of boots/shoes, underwear, etc. Also, a good baseball cap for the sun. Mostly old clothes I don't wear any more or stuff I got from Goodwill.
Medical Kit - standard first aid kit and GOLD BOND powder. In a disaster where your clothes get wet (hurricane, flood) you will seriously want some Gold Bond to fight the chaffing or you will be useless to any relief effort in a day or two. Of course, diabetics and those on perscription medicine should keep a stash of supplies here as well.
Toiletry Kit - toothbrush, toothpaste, bar of soap + caddy, wash rag, towel, disinfectant. Mostly just older stuff I don't use any more or the wife has deemed "unpresentable" in our bathroom (well, except the toothbrush and soap... those are of course, new).
Food - enough food to keep me alive and reasonably happy for three days. I prefer stuff that doesn't need to be cooked - trail mix, granola bars, vienna sausages (when I bust out those you know it's getting bad... yuck...), etc. Some people get MREs, but I just get the grocery store stuff and replace it every once in a while.
Bottles of water - a couple of bottles of water that I rotate in and out every few months or so. I personally think two to three gallons is enough for 72 hours, but your mileage may vary.
Other essentials - pocket knife or leatherman, battery powered or crank radio, durable flashlight with lots batteries (Mag lights make decent hammers in a pinch), matches, small tool kit, etc.
All of this fits in an old backpack and sits in my closet so I can grab it and get out if I need to. All together, it probably cost less than $100, although I mostly used items I had laying around and didn't have much of a use for. The cost to rotate the trail mix and granola bars probably comes to $10/year, and I keep bottled water around the house anyways. Very low tech, but functional.
Keep in mind, it's not just hurricanes and earthquakes one should be concerned about - a semi truck that flips near your home while carrying dangerous cargo can create a need for evacuation at a moment's notice. Odds are, it will take a while for a shelter with a kitchen to be set up.
I wonder how many lives could have been saved in the recent disaster if more citizens had prepared themselves with something like this.
I have seen FM crystal sets. A simple google search would have told you this.
I've got a 4,000 watt generator and enough gas to run it for weeks. MRE's, firewood, water, emergency shelter, 55 gallons of kerosene for the heaters, a 30 watt solar panel and two deep cycle trolling motor batteries, a four acre fresh water pond, fish traps and a box of chem lights.
Sheez, city folk.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
When we lost power in NYC a year back (due to the virus? We never found out...), the radio stations were all clueless as to what happened, but they didn't have much generator time, let me tell you!
So even though we had a batter powered radio, it was worthless when the power went down (no useful info on the radio) and then useless later on (no radio anymore).
Go figure.
--LWM
Lots of sensible remarks, but I'm missing one: if the water is out, you can't flush the toilet. That is NOT cool. Something really useful would be an emergency chemical toilet of some sort that doesn't take up too much space during non-emergency times.
I wouldn't bother too much with crankable radios and stuff. I used to live in a house without electricity for a while. What I did was get one of those big ass 6 volt batteries they use in boats. My portable radio would run off that thing for a month if not more, for a good number of hours each day. And my current portable radio runs for a month on a single AAA battery (!) for about the same, when I use it several hours a week.
When I get the chance I'll probably install one or two 100 watt solar panels and use them to charge a UPS. That should provide enough power to charge a cell phone, use a laptop for a few hours a day and have some light at night.
Just remember that the alternator does not produce very much voltage at low rpm. At idle, it may not even be enough power to run the car (ie your battery will drain), let alone enough for a couple hundred watts load. Also, a large component of the fuel burnt will go to overcoming the friction of the engine.
If you are really concerned about having emergency electricity, a cheap, dedicated generator will be more reliable and use less fuel.
I didn't say anything about "usurping authority". What I'm saying is that it's up to us to protect ourselves whn there isn't any authority who is willing to protect us. The cops fled NO. They weren't not willing to do their jobs. It wasn't until the state and the feds got some troups in there that the local cops showed up. In the meantime, if you had no way of protecting yourself, you were screwed. Because, the COPS WERE NOT THERE! So, there was NO authority to usurp. End of story. That's why the richer neighborhoods had to hire their own security and kept guns around.
Which is why emergency workers, as a first response priority, disarmed every refugee who fled, or was forced to leave the Katrina devestated area.
If that is true, it was a very stupid thing to have done. The trouble makers stayed behind. The law abiding citizens needed protection from those dirtbags. And since the authorities were unwilling and/or ineffectual, it was up to the individual.
I'll repeat what I said before, Our government (the authoritues as you put it) is ineffectual during a disaster. Either due to lack of planning or their own cowardice.
Evil people don't think they're evil. - George Lucas, Making of Ep III
and bedding supplies (old blanket, a sweater that can also be used as a pillow, etc.) I'm sure I missed a few other things as well.
Or better yet, hey, we could fund some sort of central agency that could be responsible for getting people timely aid in an emergency. That system's worked pretty well over many years and administrations until the negligence and class-blindered indifference of the current round of political appointees made it look incompetent. Little thing called FEMA.
What better way to help prevent the large scale suffering that so many endured during Katrina while waiting for rescue efforts.
Keep them from having to wait for those efforts by electing people with a sense of responsibility and a conscience rather than a solipsistic authoritarian fantasy of a moral system?
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
http://www.freeplayenergy.com/
They have added some cool new products.
There are specific rules for how quickly the paperwork has to be sent out (which unfortunately, I don't have in front of me), but if the VE team really sat on the paperwork for more than about 4 or 5 days, you might consider sending a note to the ARRL VEC to complain, it's not supposed to work that way.
As for the parent comment, it does normally take a few days for this to happen. Our team happens to be very quick about it, but it isn't unusual for the VE team to take a day or so to verify that the paperwork is correct (it'll take a lot longer if there's a missed signature, etc. and has to come back), then it gets send up to HQ, and not always via overnight mail. When they get it, they have some checking to do, then they have to enter the info into the FCC system which generates the callsigns. I'd give it at least 2 weeks to be reasonable before complaining to the VE team.
Yugoslavian M59/66.
You can get them for under $100 if you know where to look.
When it runs out of consumables, it has a failover system that is quite effective.
I have to admit, the FDNY firefighters selfless heroism during 9/11 gave me a little faith in the authorities. Unfortunately, NO has limited that faith again.
I also have to say, I understand what you said in the grandparent - I don't want to go back to the Wild West days myself.
Thanks for the fuel for the thoughts :-) I'm done indulging my Ego now.
Evil people don't think they're evil. - George Lucas, Making of Ep III
...I would have liked to have seen more variety of products reviewed. If you're interested in emergency goods, this is one of the best sources for emergency items that I've found. They have a local retail store close to where I live. It's fun to just go in and see what they have. Some of it's the standard camping stuff, but a lot of it is pretty clever. I bought a solar battery charger that works very nicely. I also got a emergency radio that's similar to the one in the article, but that has 4 possible power sources and has a built-in flashlight.
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My mandolin has never required power to produce entertainment. And a group of them in the neighborhood (better yet a guitar, fiddle, and washboard) is enough to entertain the entire neighborhood.
> You obviously seem to be in the camp that government is there to protect the few at the top
Where did you infer that?
I'm in the camp that expects the government to protect nobody.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
Looks like all those products from Cellboost are disposable! That kinda makes me sick.
They should get some envro-hater award.
Where does your water come from. If you have city water, and the city is stocked up on diesel fuel for their power backup, you are just fine.
My water comes from my own well though. When my power goes out I have at most 6 gallons of water that has to get through. (and it may be just a cup!) This isn't counting the water heater pipes, which I could drain if I had to, but I only have a tiny amount of easy water. I can't waste it on a pump.
If my sump pump ran often I'd be investing in a battery backup sump pump. They are not that expensive.
I have a music player with a crank, but it's not called an iPod, it's called a Gramophone.
...I forgot that you'll need a login to view the NYT article I linked to above.
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When I first installed my HF ham radio in my car 25 years ago, I was talking to a fellow ham in Florida within 5 minutes. What's the problem 25 years later?
For those people out there who don't think they live in a "disaster prone" area, it might be useful to check out San Francisco's emergency preparedness site. There are lots of things that should be in your emergency kit.
A radio is important, and a hand-crank one is a great idea if you have several people that need to listen. Batteries are the easiest way out, though... maybe with a hand-crank recharger.
If asked nicely some apartments will allow a HAM to mount an attenna on the roof. Typically an unobtrusive simple dipole is used. There are docs out there to help address safety and other similar concerns.
If it's sunny, you don't even need a hand-cranked device. Improvised solar stills -- all you need is a couple of square meters of clear plastic sheet -- can easily yield a liter or more of water a day, even in the desert. With water around, as in New Orleans, more than that is easy.
See here for an improvised desert still, and here for a commerical inflatable one (it floats! handy in NOLA). (The latter site also offers a hand-cranked water maker that will make over a gallon an hour -- but it costs nearly $2K.)
-- Alastair
Here in the Cincinnati area is one of the strongest AM stations in the nation. I've picked up the signal in Florida while on vacation before. Their old transmitter was used to send transmissions to troops in Europe a couple times during WWII.
SYS 64738
In Soviet Russia, radios crank you!
;-)
Sorry, couldn't resist..
...an assault rifle. Keep your powder dry ;-)
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Thanks, I've always been terrible at names. Allen was the big one that hit S Texas in 1980.
i cane/info/histhurr.htm
And TS Allison was responsible for the 2001 floods.
I was thinking of the 1983 Alicia that was Cat 3 when it hit. I had just moved to Dallas but my girlfriend still ived in Houston, and I visited the weekend after. There was not much loss of life but there was ankle-deep broken glass downtown, and lots of trees were still blocking minor streets.
Good historical summary here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/weather/hurr
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
...are still the simplest ones.
o reId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&productId=47792759 &parent_category_rn=4500462&vcat=REI_SEARCH
Here's what I'd recommend, especially for a "bug-out" pack to grab from the house, or leave in the car: The Ten Essentials--and four more
http://www.backpacking.net/ten-essl.html
For home, it would be wise to calculate 1.5 gallons of bottled water per person/day.
Good gadgets:
* MSR MIOX Water Purifier
http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?st
* For the knife mentioned in the Ten Essentials, I recommend a NON-FOLDING knife (sturdier, can be used to split wood), a Leatherman and (depending on space available or preference) either a Gerber Gator (stiff blade) type wood saw or their line of lightweight handled axes (get the biggest one possible)
* Dermabond (2-octylcyanoacrylate) or Vetbond (available at your tack & feed/farm supply store may also be an OK option) are good for small gashes.
Worthless gadgets:
* Space blanket. I have yet to figure out any use for this other than as a blanket of last resort. (The joke: Why is it called that? Because it only works in space.) The better deal is to get the "Space All Weather Blanket"
Well i dont know if you saw this but rita is now a CAT 5.
Id get the fuck out of there dude becuase your house is going to get blown away. UPS's and all.
I'll just use my special getting high powers one more time...
Get you bottle wate deliver, get a 5 gallon bottle for each person in your house, and rotate them out.
That was the water is always fresh, and you always have a supply.
As for buckets, be sure to gat a sealable one, like a pickle bucket, and put a bunch of plastic bags and a roll of toiletpaper. Change out the bags when thay are about half full.
Finally, late at night, turn of the power to your home, then find all your gear in the dark, and get it out of the house. Do so in less then 3 minutes. That includes each member of the household and their emergency back-pack.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Try re-read that sentence. You will notice that it is in two parts:
Part 1: A well regulated militia being nessecary to the security of a free State - this is the justification for what follows.
Part 2: the right of people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed - removing the justification clause, this is the actual content of the second ammendment. It explicitly states the right of the people, with no mention of being limited to a milita.
I'd also like to know how can you seriously think that a constitutional ammendment like this could be meant to apply only to recognized members of the armed forces?
The armed forces are an extension of the government - you don't need an ammendment to say that the government can have weapons - you'd only need one to say that they can't.
Additionally, this is part of what is collectively called "The Bill of Rights" - namely the section of the US Constitution that was designed specifically to guarantee rights to citizens and limit the government. Your interpretation is completely counter to that idea.
Most of the ham radio operaters that I know seem to be retired men in their 70s or 80s. My concern is that if we do not get more younger people interested in the hobby, in another 10 - 20 years we might not have very many hams left to help out in emergencies. I am in my early 50s, so there would be at least some of us left. Many of the older hams got interested in the hobby back in the days when radio was something new and exciting and they could build their own radios and antennas. We could probably use some younger new hams expecially in hurricane prone places such as Gulf Coast or in earthquake prone areas such as Sothern California.
Here is one non-ham related thought; I have met several people who live in motorhomes who get their Internet connections through a satellite disk. StarBand in one of the companies that offer satelliet based Internet connections. The motorhomes I have seen also had a built-in generator and Inverter so they can browse the interent from their laptop even when no power or phone lines are available. One guy even had a WiFi hotspot that his neighbors could connect to. Some motorhomes even have solar pannels on the roof.
"Just be sure to shake it horizontally, as the instructions warn that you might break it if the weight hits an end too hard on a vertical downstroke."
that makes it a BAD emergency tool.
I mean, any light in an emergence is a good one, but betting on a light the depends which direction to shake it is a bad bet. Emergencies often cause panic, shock, and generally becomes hard to remember these little details.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The cops let Reginal Denny get beaten up because was was White, nothing more, nothing less.
1) LED crank flashlights
2) firewood
3) dehydrated food
4) water filter
5) Ham radio (Hf or VHF)
6) gas powered chain saw
7) charcoal
Good luck after next year, when analog TV is killed off by the federal communications cartel, er, I mean, FCC.
Are you an able-bodied male between ages 17 and 45? You're part of the militia, bucko.
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
Chlorine is cheap and easy to get just about anywhere (just buy the generic bleach w/o fabric softner/fragrance/etc) and keep a little bottle around. A little goes a long way depending on the concentration of the Chlorine you are using:
- 1% use 10 drops per Quart of Clear Water
- 4-6% use 2 drops per Quart of Clear Water
- 7-10% use 1 drop per Quart of Clear Water
Double the amount of Chlorine if the water is not clear (best to use a series of crude filters like coffee filters, socks stuffed into an inverted water bottle with the base cut off. Clean socks guys!!! or whatever you can fashion).If in doubt of the concentration of your Bleach/Chlorine solution, use the high 10 drop dose. The water should be mixed thoroughly and left standing for 30 minutes. If there is no chlorine odor, repeat your dose, mix and let stand for 15 minutes.
If you want to get rid of the chlorine odor, you can let it stand for a few hours or pour back and forth from one container to another to hasten the removal of excess Chlorine.
More info here: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/emerg.html
I also have one of these: MSR Miox
It purifies by creating a creating a purification solution using electricity (Lithium Batteries w/ 10 year shelf life, and I have LOTS of spares lying around) and Rock Salt. This ones does Inactivates all viruses, bacteria, Giardia, and Cryptosporidium. No pumping required, just have to make sure you have clear water or know how to do coarse/crude filtering using materials at hand. The stand time is shorter and no bad taste either.
MSR also makes lots of great multi stage pump filters, but having used them in the past, I can assure you that pumping water is very energy/time intensive and using what non-stagnant/non-brackish/non-cloudy water at hand with the chlorine or the Miox is a much better way to go.
Still keep a bottle of Chlorine around in case the high tech solution goes tits up.
DaveC
There are no stupid questions...just stupid people.
We don't have second ammendment rights anymore. and the rules change under martial law anyhow.
people have been conditioned by those awful sappy lawyer shows to accept just about anything the government does (especially to those bad guys who like GUNS) is okay. There is too much apathy in Amerika to actually rise up to support *any* rights, let alone unpopular ones.
I think experience from Ruby Ridge and possibly the Branch Davidians shows that if you tango with lethal force where the government is involved, your tombstone will say, "Here lies so-and-so. He's right dead..."
I think the best thing to do in this circumstance would be to get some kind of legal documentation from the police that took your guns, find a good hiding place and sue the city, state, etc. later. Your case might be stronger if you witness a crime that your gun could've prevented. I don't know how far you'd get, but this is one circumstance where class action lawsuit might be useful. It's really too bad there's no way to bring criminal charges against those who gave the order.
Especially considering this kind of circumstance really hasn't been tested in the courts, there's no reason to die for everyone else's right to bear arms. At least not while legal options remain.
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addendum: after I finished entering in my rant, I noticed you wrote, "should be entitled..." (emphasis mine) and that I might have committed the ol' "is-ought" falacy in my response. I've left it as-is because i think it's still relevant, in a "slightly different point of view" kind of way.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
in Atlanta when the RK verdict came down and most of downtown went batsquat nuts, I had to go rescue my then girlfriend from the government building she was holed up in. Had to clear my vehicle in advance via the phone to get through. On the way there, got blocked in by a car (obviously to try and trap me), then the mob saw me and approached. Hmmmm.. This was one of those "uh oh, this could be very sucky" situations. My two friends messrs smith and wesson came out,the driver in the blocking car decided to move out of the way, and the mob decided to get back to serious looting and burning cars, and I was able to proceed quite effectively to retrieve said damsel in distress.
I have more stories from that riot along those lines, (had to go back AGAIN to rescue her mom) but it can be said that having an equalizer in a dangerous situation is a lot better than wishful thinking and harsh language.....
All joking aside, I think one important lesson that a massive Disaster/Government Response Failure like Katrina holds for is is that we all have to think about how we're going to be self sufficient for at least the immediate future after a disaster.
I am a reluctant survivalist/nut. Mainly b/c I have seen first hand how unreliable your fellow humans/strangers are apt to be in a really bad situation. It quickly degenerates into a Mob situation once the fragile veneer of civilized society/order is gone. I WORK in EMS, and I've seen our City's (Huntington Beach CA and Orange County in general, and we're pretty well funded in this county in the grand scheme of things) disaster plan, it is at best only a bit better than New Orleans and I have no doubt that it will fall apart quickly in the event of an actual major disaster/chaos. We all do live on major Earthquake fault lines after all.
The first rule of EMS is "Don't become another Victim.", so if the situation is too hot, the average citizen is pretty much on their own until the Police/Fire/Feds arrive in force (ie. Katrina as a recent example). But that's OK, I think we all need to start taking some responsibility for our destinies. All too often, I seen the 911 system abused on a DAILY basis, folks calling for a NON-EMERGENT problem b/c they don't have a ride to the hospital, don't wan't to take a taxi, or just by the plain virtue of being lame (one recent case was a 20 year old healthy girl who called 911 and tied up a Ambulance to bring her in for a Mild case of Pink Eye (Conjunctivitis), yet her folks pulled up in the family car right after the ambulance).
The medics brought her in per our lawsuit adverse EMS policies, but she really didn't need to come in this way obviously. But she is a classic example of how the average non-thinking consumer thinks the 911 system is a bottomless pit of resouces to be used for conveience. Right now, if we have more than 6-10 active runs and things are VERY inefficient, 10-15 simultaneous ambulance runs in our city and our EMS system is pretty much saturated and grinds to a halt. That's not even counting the police and fire resources that are tied simultaneously in the case of actual accidents/fires/explosions/use your imagination. Oh, did I mention that your nearest Trauma Center (yes your average ER is pretty bad at dealing with MAJOR or even Moderate trauma, you'll want real Trauma center if you're really messed up. 3 or 4 moderate trauma/accident victims will completely clog a typical community hospital ER for several hours while impacting the non-accident cases as a side effect).
Suffice to say that in the event of a large enough disaster Police/EMS/Fire will be pretty busy and not have the time to take care of you. If there is any civil unrest/rioting/looting, then your individual priority gets even lower. You will not be able to rely on external help for a few days until outside resources arrive. Accept that 911 won't be your safety net any more.
The Shotgun/Handgun/Rife and ammo isn't at the top of my A list of things to have, but it is about in the middle (right after Shelter, Water, Food, collecting up the Family/Kids/Pets, Medications, Knife, Flashlight/Fire, all prepared well ahead of time.). If I didn't know how to use a firearm effectively or don't have the skills or compunction to use lethal force/firearms in an appropriately dire situation, then it is a C list item (and probably more of a libility to you and those around you than a benefit).
Those who have will have options, and those without will just have to make do with what they have or are given/allowed to keep...
DaveC
There are no stupid questions...just stupid people.
Thanks a lot for all of that advice. I'll take it to heart.
Much of what you mentioned is already in there, I just wasn't very thorough in listing everything I have in there.
My kit is from growing up in Florida and hurricanes were the main issue. Now I keep one here at school with me in Utah. I should really review it and make sure I've properly adapted it to the environment and potential issues (earthquakes among them).
Thanks!
If you just pasted the printouts on the cardboard props from a furniture store, and made sure they were generic headlines like "New IE Security Flaw Announced" or "New Minor Linux Beta Release Released" and few would be the wiser...
i'm sure i was told that wet jeans are terrible for this, maybe you should consider some other type of trowsers.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
Get an old fashioned type "transistor radio" with analog tuning that takes D-cells, such as the GE Superadio III. It takes 6 D-cells. Put alkaline cells in there and it seems the thing will run forever. Decent speaker, plenty loud, good long distance AM reception, good FM reception. Be little frugal in your listening and it will probably last longer than your food supply--even if you stock up. We use one as our bathroom radio, we play it loud to hear in the shower, and I think the last set of batteries lasted well over a year.
It also runs on AC. Amazon sells it (though from other retailers).
-kb