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Radios

6K views 30 replies 23 participants last post by  rayban 
#1 ·
What kind of radios do you guys have so you can keep up with things when the power goes out?

If our internet goes out, our connection to the outside world is gone.
 
#3 ·
I have 2 radios for news & weather. One is battery powered & the other is a hand crank as back up. We live in a fairly remote location so a few of my neighbors & I also use battery powered 2 way, multi station radios for local contact. All devices get tested on a regular basis.
 
#4 ·
I have an older Radio Shack DX-375.

And some Baofeng two way radios as well for my wife and I around the farm.
 
#6 ·
The cars have radios is we feel like wasting our time. The local radio stations all have out-of-state owners and play "localized content" that's either meaningless or too late to be of any use. Specifically, they're completely useless for floods, tornados, or disaster relief. So broadcast radio isn't a factor in our preparations.

We have a couple of handheld FRS walkie-talkies that could be either useless or invaluable, depending on circumstances. We keep them charged and check them every now and then to make sure they still work.
 
#12 ·
We have a couple of the Eton FR250 emergency radios. AM, FM, Weather Band, short wave reception. Battery powered with hand crank option. You can even charge your phone if you have the right adapter. You can pick them up cheap on Ebay.
 
#17 ·
Used a standard AM/FM radio. Then purchased a NOAA emergency radio when we lived in the south for tornados.

Going through the latest earthquake, NOAA was useless, TV and radio stations also went off the air. Now a KA500 solar / crank / battery NOAA / AM/FM with a light. Turned off my cell phone and then used the car to trickle charge when needed. Wife phone we kept on just in case and when calls did came through.
 
#20 ·
I do have a small shortwave radio. Kinda useless though. It has the hand crank and can charge solar. The problem with shortwave anymore is where there used to be a lot of things to listen to, for various parts of the U.S. at least there just aren't the stations you can pick up anymore. Especially with a small antenna. This radio still gets AM/FM.

The various handhelds I have can get FM broadcast. Unfortunately there are only one or two English speaking stations I can kind of get.

I do have a 1200 watt generator so I can still run or charge comms for a while, but things are still limited.

My biggest thing is to be able to contact other radio club members who will hopefully be on portables on 2 meter, who also run HF and see what they are getting. I do have an older Yaesu FT707 that does fire up. I'll be checking it out to use as a receiver for 10 meters on down. It will be a while before I come up with some antenna arrangements for the lower frequencies that I could broadcast on it needed in an emergency. Once I get my General (eventually) I'll be better set with the radio and a power source.

For the guys who have the Baofengs. I have three. They were my gateway radio. However, they aren't all that great. I picked up the TYT UV8000E handheld. It's another Chinese, dual band radio, but much, much better. It's built well, can do 10 watts, and also has a crossband repeater feature. While Amazon has it listed at $93, I got mine directly from the Radioddity. With my first timer, 10% discount, it ended up being $69 and $5 for quicker shipping. Comes with a whip and a rubber ducky antenna. I also added a BTECH Phoenix speaker/mike on it that also does well.

Where I had to stand in the driveway out from under the trees to be talk on our local repeater for my first net, with the 8000E I can sit in the house and get asked if I'm on a mobile or base. I run it in the van with a Tram through the glass mounted antenna and can hit our repeater from about 35 miles out from the next town. It talks and receives well. I also have it programmed for GMRS (also licensed for), FRS, and MURS, frequencies, plus other frequencies with TX locked out for monitoring. Like many of the Chinese radios it covers more of VHF and UHF than just the amatuer bands. I use CHIRP for programming my radios. It's a darn good radio for the price. Long battery life too.

Cross band repeater function is kind of nice, though not something I use all the time. Not enough room here to toss out some ideas, but with some imagination there are several things you could figure out to use that function for in emergency or even some non-emergency situations.

Power goes down our repeater does too. However, if it looks like a long term situation we have club members who can and will pull out generators and set up field type comms if there is a big issue.

Btw, for you guys with the handhelds that shop at or go around Walmart. Set you radio to MURS frequencies. There are only 5 channels on MURS, but the old business band Green Dot and Blue Dot channels are part of it and get used at places like Walmart. When we go I tuck a Baofeng UV-5R on my belt under my shirt with an earbud run up under my shirt and in my ear and monitor all the conversations going on there. Mostly the usual stuff, but a few times it's provided some inside information. Such as one time some managers were talking back and forth about a guy with a crossbow that was making them a little nervous. I didn't catch if he was walking around with one they thought he might steal, or he'd brought one back and not going directly to customer service. They finally settled down.

So, I go to Walmart with a radio on the left hip and the pistol on my right with my shirt over both. Since the radio can monitor two channels I have one channel set to Blue Dot and the other that is selected for transmit set to the GMRS channel the little RT27 my wife is carrying with earbud in for us to communicate with each other easier than cell phones. The RT27 is Part 95 accepted, the Baofeng not, but that's the only time I use it on GMRS (Again, I also have my GMRS license. That covers the whole family.) About all I use the BF for anymore. I may start using one of my BTECH GMRS-V1s for my radio for that though as I can monitor VHF and UHF, but it can only transmit on GMRS/FRS channels, plus GMRS duplex.

Bottom line for here though is if the towers are down with the power, getting information in from outside sources is going to be pretty much limited to regular broadcast radio, maybe NOAA, but I only get one NOAA channel, and hopefully, via the practicing General and Advanced members of our amatuer radio club. Cell towers go down then our little town loses internet, landlines, and pretty much all of it. Apparently landline only goes so far then gets sent further by microwave (cell tower).
 
#24 ·
You da' man! :rock:

I have 'em in my Jeep & my Ramcharger. If we each get some 12 pill drivers, we can talk to each other... cos' we sure ain't gonna be talking to anybody ELSE on 'em these days (save for that one idiot on ch.6 in Louisiana, who has a 12 pill nuclear reactor driving HIS rig :dope:)
 
#25 ·
I have a couple of Sony AM/fm weather radios. I picked them up at flea markets for only a few bucks, but they are like new and work awesome. I also have a combination am/fm weather solar power/ crank radio, but don't have much faith it will hold up for long. Key thing is to not store batteries in them for long term.
 
#26 ·
I have a couple small but good am/fm radios and the digital one has shortwave too. I have owned quite a few through the years, even had one hot rodded. They all have pretty much clapped out so just have the new small ones.
 
#27 ·
Having a mix of handheld two ways is handy tonight. Power went out a bit over a hour ago. Have my 85 year old mother with Parkinson’s living with us. Got her in bed and with a small easy to use GMRS, my wife with another one, and I have my dual band with one channel set to that freq and the other to our amateur club repeater which seems to be up.

Still have cell. I’m typing this in the dark on an iPad with SIM card. Something I have found way more useful than I ever thought. Sure it’s not a long term disaster situation, but a chance to use a few things then after action later. I was able to login to the electric company website from the iPad and see that the power is expected to be back on in a few hours.

P.S. having those one dollar headlamps and flashlights you see in bins at Walmart are handy to have stashed around. Especially the headlamps. Beeep. Power just came back on.
 
#28 ·
I am licensed for amateur radio and have a tri-band Kenwood D74. It is also ultra-wide receive so I can (with a proper antenne) receive down into the shortwave bands below 30Mhz.

I also have a slew of Beofeng's, a Uniden 125AT, and AOR AR8200.
 
#29 ·
Radios are great, but antennas are the most important component. At the same time, knowing when you need skywave propogation or NVIS can greatly improve your odds of successful communication.

As a 30+ year Amateur Radio operator, I understand that buying radios doesn't do you a whole lot of good unless you know how to properly deploy them. Even though I enjoy using some of the internet connected protocols, like D-Star and DMR, I also realize that there is a strong possibility that there will come a time when the only thing that is going to work is good old HF CW or SSB. Even the newer digital modes, like PSK31, AMTOR, or Hellshreiber aren't going to do you any good if someone isn't prepared to decode it.
 
#30 ·
Good point on the antennas. That's one thing that a lot of people buying handhelds and mobiles for prepping and think they have their commo needs met don't realize. A Baofeng, or even a better radio with a rubber ducky antenna won't talk or receive very far. A Baofeng hooked to a good and proper (and properly matched) antenna will talk a lot further than a high end radio on a crap antenna. A better radio on a good antenna install will really do well.

Also a good point on shortwave reception capable radios. It's fine to have one, but without a good antenna you will still miss out on a lot. Particularly now that shortwave broadcast stations aren't as prevalent as they once were. I remember years ago building dipole antennas out of speaker wire and flat TV wire cut to match the frequencies for TV and radio listening.

If you don't know were in the bands communications are going on it won't do much good either. Best receiver in the world won't matter without a good antenna and the knowledge on where to tune in to.
 
#31 ·
I just took delivery of the Tecsun PL 660.....AM, FM, SW, Weather, Air, and most important to me, Single Side Band (HF) which allows you to get "way out there" and listen to what's going on . It's a very sensitive radio, meaning it picks up a lot of things my older portables don't.
Very light weight, about 7 x 5 x 1 in size......I believe a very good choice for preppers.
https://www.amazon.com/Tecsun-PL-660-Portable-Shortwave-Single/dp/B004H9C4JK
 
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