Picking the Best Emergency Radio

Being prepared for emergencies is up to each of us, and one important tool is getting the best emergency radio we can get. Watching what transpired in New Oreleans after Katrina, we all realize that we need to have supplies for our families to survive for at least a week perhaps two before we can expect help to arrive. So selecting an emergency radio for use during a catastrophe there are several feature that it should certainly have. The least of which is operating for several weeks without any electrical service.

Many homes plan to use an emergency generator to provide power during a crisis. This is might be a good plan for most situations, however as we learned in the case of huricane Katrina, you had to take everything with you and leave your home, a generator would be just too much to take. If you have to take your survival gear with you and carry it on you back, you need to find a portable solution.

Many people may not even have an AM radio in the house, as many have moved on to other forms of entertainment. But since AM radio is the main component of the emergency broadcast system, the system that will keep you informed during a natural distaster. This is because FM and TV transmitters are what is called “line of sight” type of broadcast, meaning because of the curve of the earth, they only reach 50-75 miles.

Am radio waves are reflected off the earths atmosphere and especially at night can travel great lengths even around the world. It is some of these properties that make AM ideal for emergency broadcasts, long distance with low energy useage. For a long time, listeners abandoned AM radio for the cleaner and high fidelity sounds of FM, but with the increase in talk radio, many AM stations have improved their broadcast service with larger antennas and better static filters.

A big question many have is which radio bands do I need in an emergency radio? It really depends on your point of view, with the y2k just behind us, many were headed for a bunker to hide out and brought along a shortwave radio to be able to hear what was going on in the whole world. If that is not your point of view, most will need to get local AM signals for local news and emergency updates.

The big assumption is that the power will be out, so television is out unless you have a small battery powered version that picks up the digital broadcasts. In emergency situations you will primarily be looking for weather and local news reports so a good AM radio will be all you will really need.

Finding the radio station in your service area that is part of the emergency broadcast system is not hard, they must periodically do test to make sure it works. You most likely have heard this at times when they say they are conducting a test followed by a loud signal. You might make note of this station and its location on the dial and write it down and tape it to your emergency radio for future use.

The next question is a radio with a speaker or earphone? The best answer is both. A speaker for when there is a group needing to hear what is going on and when help will arrive. The speaker however uses more power than an earphone, so to conserve power it is better to use the earphone. The earphone is also nice when moving or going to a new location you can stay up to date without sticking out in the crowd. Many prefer the ear bud style earphone rather than the onepiece headphones. These are lighter and compact making them ideal for an emergency kit.

The next area of concern is the type of power your radio uses. The common wisdom is that you should get flashlights and radios that use the same battery type, so when you stock up on batteries you have both covered. Most good emergency radios will operate on AA or AAA batteries. The same is true for a good LED flashlight. This is your basic items for your kit. If you think you need to be prepared for longer than several weeks, there are solar power kits for radios and flashlights you may want to consider. Another option is the crank emergency radio. These operate when you crank the handle a few times to create a battery charge for the radio to run on. Many in the past have not worked very well, but a few of the newer models seem to work just fine. You definitely want to be able to try these out before you buy them.

The most important thing about an emergency radio is having it in your emergency kit with extra batteries and ready to go. Many talk about having such a kit, but never get around to doing it. After being through several natural disasters from earthquakes to hurricanes I can tell you, it is better to spend the time and money now, rather than live with your regrets about not doing it.