Radios??

[shecky]

Too bad Art Bell has finally retired for good this time. His old show has drifted further and further toward the lunatic fringe lately.

His show was always the lunatic fringe. One of the few reasons to listen to domestic SW stations is if Coast To Coast doesn't sate your lunatic frunge needs.

For size, price, and battery life, I like the Sony plain old ICF-S10MK2. Decent AM/FM.

I feel SW reception is probably pretty useless for actual survival situations. But it can provide for fun listening. I use an old Sangean AS-803a. I suspect modern radios outclass this one, and for less.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

I have a CountyComm GL4 AM/FM/SW radio that is great for hiking. It is small, has an LED light, and clock/alarm functions too. With a long wire, you can pull in all kinds of SW traffic.

http://www.countycomm.com/gp4light.htm

Neat little radio. If you're at home or driving somewhere, you can use a bigger system. But out on a hike, how much weight do you want to add? This is tiny and very light and reasonably receptive.

Unfortunately, they are out fo the small white boxes -- probably because I bought up about a dozen of them when they were available -- but the MPCC fits nicely and I have it fixed to the shoulder strap of my Pack Rat.

Scan down that page & you'll see the little antenna they sell for it. I find if I don't get real great reception, I just hold the end of the antenna and my magnetic personality (or radioactive brain) improves the sound nicely.

I was scanning the local AM dial with it one afternoon and came across a Russian reading and discussing the news. I felt like I was back in Europe, but it was just from Paterson NJ.

 

[ROCK6]

I am addicted to radios, carry one with me everywhere and wouldn't think of not having one in my pack.

On the morning of September 11 2001 I was in a C-5 Galaxy somewhere over Egypt. I was heading for a multi national, multi force training exercise called Bright Star. With no warning, the plane banked very hard and then the aircrew told us there had been a terrorist attack against the US and we were being diverted to another airstrip and would be arriving in about an hour, we were all speculating that it was part of the exercise.

I was in the same exercise runningboar, supporting 3ACR; we didn't fly over until a few days after 911, and I was certain we were going to get diverted to Kuwait, but we still drove on and the force protection measure following our arrival were most interesting....

Back on topic. I'm a commo guy, so radios are given I've found the small Countycomm GP4 or my little Grundig SW are indespensible when in remote locations. Attaching a long wire for better reception will most likely get you at least the BBC. Information is more than just for entertainment. My day hiking kits and deployment stuff both have a small SW/FM/AM radio.

ROCK6

 

[runningboar]

Rock,
I am signal too, that exercise sure went from same ole crap to get your systems up NOW. I was at MMC for a week or two and soon as we got comms up there they moved us to the Port of Agami. Chris

 

[cssims]

While looking up info on the radios mentioned here I found this on the ccrane.com website about TV Bands on radios.

" What you should know before buying a radio with the TV audio band (2-13):
Congress passed a law that prevents television stations from broadcasting regular analog TV signals after February 17, 2009. Unfortunately this means the TV audio band found on many consumer electronic radios will no longer be able to receive television broadcasts after that date or sooner. The other bands such as AM, FM, shortwave, etc will work normally and are unaffected."

Interesting it was something congress voted on, because I thought it was the FCC that controlled it. I'm guessing it has something to do with HD TV transmissions and how they want everyone to be on it in 2010.

 

[akennedy73]

My edc radio is a Sony ICF-S10MK2 Pocket AM/FM Radio. And I've got an Eton FR250 in my BOB.

I started carrying a radio after the Aug. 2003 blackout that shut down the northeast. Walking home from work here in NYC, I was getting my news updates quickly passing by people who were blasting their radios from their parked cars for others to cluster around and listen. I was able to obtain enough info that I could determine that there was no reason to suspect a link to terrorism - but when the entire northeast corridor goes dark you start to wonder if it's just a prelude to something much bigger.

A lot of people who wouldn't leave home without a cell phone, don't carry radios. But networks go down in emergencies since they just aren't designed for everyone to access it simultaneously. Perhaps one of the most comical things to see in an emergency is everyone raising their cell phones to their ears, then holding it in front of them with a questioning look, only to raise it to their ear again. See hundreds of people doing that over and over again all at the same time and it looks pretty funny.

Small packable solar panels are good for recharging radio batteries: http://store.sundancesolar.com/siflsochfora.html

Chris, I like that Sony SFR-M37V. Might just be my new EDC radio. Certainly lighter and smaller than my current one. And the weather channels are a bonus.

 

[runningboar]

Chris, I like that Sony SFR-M37V. Might just be my new EDC radio. Certainly lighter and smaller than my current one. And the weather channels are a bonus.

It is a dandy radio with very decent reception for it's size and weight. I am in the process of finding some small, flat speakers I can carry as well so I can listen without the earbuds. Chris