Weather, AM/FM, a couple of shortwave bands. Flashlight, small solar panel. The dynamo seems solid, so I just crank it for power. It’ll charge things, with the right USB cables. Comes with some adapters.
I use NOAA Weather Free(NWS) on my phone. Been meaning to pay the 2-3 bucks to upgrade and ditch the ads. Phone app, Scanner(NWS channels), PC with https://forecast.weather.gov and I have consistency. Most of your local TV forecasts just look at NWS info and tweak it for the particular city/metro locale and their experience there and maybe their own doppler radar. I basically do the same, minus a doppler, for me as I'm not in their circle.
You can find your closest stations here - https://www.weather.gov/nwr/station_search
It will be one of the top seven that are in bold text below. Mine are 162.500 MHz aka WX6 or 162.525 MHz aka WX7 (which one will come in better at any given time -- depends on the weather LOL)
| Frequency | WX [30] Channel | Marine Channel | Radio Preset |
|---|---|---|---|
| 162.400 MHz | WX2 | 36B | 1 |
| 162.425 MHz | WX4 | 96B | 2 |
| 162.450 MHz | WX5 | 37B | 3 |
| 162.475 MHz | WX3 | 97B | 4 |
| 162.500 MHz | WX6 | 38B | 5 |
| 162.525 MHz | WX7 | 98B | 6 |
| 162.550 MHz | WX1 | 39B | 7 |
| 161.650 MHz | WX8 | 21B | blank |
| 161.750 MHz | WX# | 23B | blank |
| 161.775 MHz | WX9 | 83B | blank |
| 162.000 MHz | WX# | 28B | ASM 2 |
| 163.275 MHz | WX# | 113B | blank |
Any receiver that can pick up those frequencies will work. That includes a lot of HAM radios and scanners.
NWS has a list of common weather/emergency radios -- "courtesy of Ambient Weather" https://www.weather.gov/mob/nwrhelp
I like the scanner because it will also pick up local first responders and public works which can be very helpful in localized shtf scenarios. Radio Reference is a good resource for frequencies and if you have the a programmable via USB scanner, they have a tool to choose frequencies and download the proper file to upload to your scanner.
Related to that, our state DOT, MODOT, has a nice website with road current conditions - https://traveler.modot.org/map/index.html -- It's surprising how up to date it is. It covers road conditions based on weather, construction delays, accident delays and closings of sections of the interstate due to them. It helps with my long commute from the boonies to work and back in Winter. Your state might have something similar.
My old school, heavy, handheld Radio Shack Pro-92 scanner is programmable. It runs off of 8 AA cell batteries and will charge the right type of rechargeable AA batteries but I've never bought any. AA batteries are 1.5 vdc so 8 x 1.5 = 12 vdc. I can run it of a car battery. I bought it around the same time we got a 12 vdc solar panel setup. It was what I was looking for at the time. Cheap and reliable.
I was mostly interested in a weather radio but saw all the bright shiny colors with features I didn't need like a built in crappy flashight to make you kill the battery quick and couldn't do it. I was big into prepping at the time and knew about scanners being a good tool to have and that many have Wx so I picked it up used for a decent price off of craigslist. It came with a little flexible antenna but reading the web told me what Radio Shack extendable antenna to buy. The instructions for it tells you what sections to have extended/retracted to get certain frequency ranges.
I can't help it. It's just my gearhead/techy/crazy guy's guy way. Shiny white or red plastic with too many silly features and no upgrading/tweaking? Yuk. There's probably some decent hand crank devices out there but my only experience has been a couple of cheapo flashlights.
But by all means, if you find a weather radio with features you want, that looks good to you and has good reviews, get it. It's way better than not having one and a new one may have new features that my old scanner doesn't.
As I said in the prior post, it's the only source to hear a tornado was observed two counties away and that the storm is or isn't headed your way.
Voices Paul was the original, then Donna, Craig, Tom and for high hispanic areas, Javier and Paul II/Paul Jr replaced Paul(all computer generated)
CRS introduced a computerized voice nicknamed "Paul", using a text-to-speech system which was based on the DECtalk technology. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOAA_Weather_Radio#Voices
My chosen tell tale that the shtf for real is when the NWS signal goes down and stays down. Air and maritime traffic rely on it.
I don’t mind! You are a wealth of knowledge. :)
Weather, AM/FM, a couple of shortwave bands. Flashlight, small solar panel. The dynamo seems solid, so I just crank it for power. It’ll charge things, with the right USB cables. Comes with some adapters.
I’m sorry, I don’t know how I missed this ping.
TY, and I’ll put it on the prepper thread. or direct the prepper list to this thread. or both!
Diana, the prepper thread is barely moving along, if you ever want to combine them, let me know.
wait - you have the prepper list, right?
so it’s a done deal, with this post.
I can send you an updated list, if you like