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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.'"
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
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...
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."
For connecting between multiple 12 volt DC powersources and 12 volt loads - a frequently recommended connector is the Anderson Powerpole.
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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
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.
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.
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"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
A radio could be quite useful, but not nearly as useful as a couple of cases of bottled water.
If the situation is properly run, not like the NOLA fiasco, the radio could prove to be more useful, directing you to shelters, food/water canteens, and evacuation points. You can't get all that from a bottle of water.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
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.
I agree completely with the parent post about amateur radio -- except the eBay part. Used ham gear on ePray makes me nervous. You can get brand new 2M mobiles for less than $180 and HTs for less than $130. I see no reason not to go with new equipment. Try www.aesham.com and www.gigaparts.com.
Now, if you can touch the gear and test it out before you buy, that is another story. Hamfests are good for that.
"-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
It's called a water purifier http://www.rei.com/product/47575396.htm?vcat=REI_S SHP_CAMPING_TOC.
s /factsht_giardia.htm for a couple days you'll always have one with you after that.
The good ones have a ceramic filter that gets alot of the nasty microbes out of the water. Go camping some time and get Giardia http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/giardiasi
One thing to note is that a wate filter would NOT help in New Orleans. Those filters are only good at filtering out disease-causing organisms. This is great for drinking from a mountain stream, or even a fresh-water lake.
Firstly, NO suffered from flooding from the SALT WATER lake. In order to drink salt water, you need a desalinator. Those cost around $500 or so.
Secondly, the other main problems is that the water is contaminated with chemicals. The flood covered the underground gas tanks in gas stations, entire vehicles (full of oil and gas), everybody's garages (where they store the insect killers, old lead-acic batteries, etc.). There is no practical way for the average person to be able to drink this stuff. Even if you try distilling the water out, you would likely also distill some chemical contaminants.
In NO, the ONLY solution is bottled water.
"-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
Since my question is off topic, I will post AC. I have a dumb question (there are no dumb questions, just dumb people asking questions...). Is it possible to be a Ham if you don't have anywhere to mount the antennae? Like if one lives in an apartment?
Not a dumb question, and not really off topic, either, I think. The mods can differ with me if they want; I've got karma to burn.
Yes. It is limiting, but not a show stopper.
Ham radios themselves come in all shapes and sizes, from some very tiny radios that will fit in a shirt pocket to some monsters that will take up a rack or two.
Ham radio has a number of different bands (usually referred to by approximate wavelength, e.g. 2m, 6m, 10m, etc) that have different behaviours. The longer the wavelength of the band, the larger the ideal antenna would be. It is possible, however, to operate with a less-than-ideal antenna.
For shorter-ranged bands (70cm, ~440MHz, 2m, ~144MHz) it is possible to put the standard ideal antenna (a 1/4 wave is pretty standard) on a hand-held radio. It's a little awkward at 2m, but doable. You can also use what is called a "loaded" antenna, where there is a coil somewhere that makes the antenna resonate despite being too short.
For 2m, I most frequently use a hand-held radio, and it has a little 10" "rubber duck" antenna on it. I can put the radio on my belt and the antenna is short enough that it mostly stays out of trouble.
For 10m, I have a wire antenna in the attic that is about 7.5m long. It could be shorter if it needed to be.
The trouble is that the lower bands are the really-long range bands, and it takes a good antenna to be able to use them well.
You can also see if there are any ham radio clubs in your area that have sufficiently-equipped radio rooms. I am the treasurer of the Schenectady Museum Amateur Radio Association and we have a reasonably well-equipped radio room that is available to any member who can demonstrate competence in using it and has the appropriate licence.
That's probably a longer answer than you expected, but I am very passionate about radio, and it is difficult for me to give short answers.... sorry :)
www.wavefront-av.com
...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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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?
Says who? I've used iodine for 20 years of backpacking. No problems, even on week long stints. Many people use iodine on six month long hikes on the Appalachian Trail.
Iodine tablets (eg, Potable Aqua) are cheap, lightweight, effective, and easy to use. One pill treats one pint of water. Instructions are printed on every bottle. The downsides to iodine are relatively minor and well-understood: