NO POWER - You still have Radio for news updates

[Bekeart]

I am a retired TV engineer.

In times of power outage RADIO will be your most reliable source of information.

I do not mean portable radios.
Many will not have good batteries.

Look out the window.
That car has a Radio and a BIG Charged battery.
Fuel in tank will allow running motor to recharge battery.

Bekeart

 

[mtgianni]

Our county has an emergency radio network. It is set up in the largest 6 towns, and low power that has a 25 mile range. It plays country music from the 60's to the 90's and has local announcements for 2 minutes on the hour and half hour. It has updates for fires and weather related stuff.

The best part is no political ads. You can also charge a phone in your car if power is down.

 

[chief38]

I've got 3 combo am/fm/short wave radio's that all still work and I do have fresh batteries for them. I used one during hurricane Ian 2 years ago because even though our generator powered up the house, there was no cable or cell phone service for a few days.

 

[Bullet Bob]

About 5 months ago automakers wanted to stop putting AM radios in new cars (especially EV's), and last I heard Congress was trying to pass a bill to prevent them from doing so.

I don't know what ultimately happened, my time in this world grows too short to concern myself with everything.

 

[SweetMK]

I just mentioned what we do when the electricity is out, in another thread,,,

Good luck with the storm,,,

One thing to think about,,
back about 1990, we had extensive ice storms,, several in a row,,
it knocked down LOTS of power lines,,

Well, several guys I worked with had natural gas furnaces that could operate without electricity.

It turned out that the natural gas pressure was boosted by electric pumps.
When the pumping station lost power,, YEP,, they lost natural gas,,

There were a LOT of frozen pipes around here that year,,,

I know it is late,, but, i have a small (750 watt) inverter,,
it came from HF,, it cost only about $20. (OOPS,, it is $60 ,, now,,)

Connect it to a car battery, you get "dirty" 120V AC that will run anything that has an AC adapter that plugs into the outlet,, as well as MANY LED lights.

We have had it for over 10 years, it operates my wife's CPAP machine.

i have a car battery that sets in the garage it can run all of our needs for 2 days, and barely show any discharge.

You can hook it to the car battery, also.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

The only special thing I bought for Y2K was an AM/FM/SW hand crank radio receiver. It's still in the original packaging in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet.

Ivan

 

[Beemerguy53]

While I don't live in an area that is subject to hurricanes (knock on wood), power outages during storms are not uncommon. For more years than I can remember, I've had a battery-operated AM/FM/Weather radio, and battery-operated camping lanterns, and I've had to rely on them more than a few times over the years.

 

[NYlakesider]

Re radio. I mentioned that my area got hit hard in early July. Had a bunch of tornadoes. Two hit hard a 1/4 mile from my house!

We grabbed the cat and went down to the concrete walled basement. First time I ever had a storm so bad coming that we did that cellar move. What convinced me to go downstairs was we still had cable TV working and seeing how the storm was moving and what the weather man said.

I doubt we would have went downstairs if only had the radio. For the most part IMHO the weather folks over hype things!

Seeing the storm on the TV made up my mind. Add to that unless things changed none satellite radio does not work well up here in the mountains where I live. Kind of a major dead spot.

 

[Bekeart]

Still had Power for his TV

Re radio. I mentioned that my area got hit hard in early July. Had a bunch of tornadoes. Two hit hard a 1/4 mile from my house!

We grabbed the cat and went down to the concrete walled basement. First time I ever had a storm so bad coming that we did that cellar move. What convinced me to go downstairs was we still had cable TV working and seeing how the storm was moving and what the weather man said.

I doubt we would have went downstairs if only had the radio. For the most part IMHO the weather folks over hype things!

Seeing the storm on the TV made up my mind. Add to that unless things changed none satellite radio does not work well up here in the mountains where I live. Kind of a major dead spot.

Still had Power for his TV

 

[NYlakesider]

Still had Power for his TV

It went out soon after. we went downstairs!

Lost both internet/cable. Generac kicked on but with no street power we get no cable stuff. No cell service either.

 

[lihpster]

For between $100-150 you can buy off Amazon a mobile dual band transceiver (ham) radio. You should have a license to transmit, but in an actual emergency situation, all bets are off. But it does allow you to listen, without a license, to weather bands and such with the ability to transmit if SHTF, weather wise or other. Also, for about $50 you can buy a pair of handhelds that do the same thing, only with less wattage. Some of these can use rechargeable batteries that can charge from the car.
Also, the license isn't that hard to get depending on the level. Might be something to think about.

 

[oldbrownhat]

... do not mean portable radios...

Hmmm... I'm looking at my dad's old Zenith Trans-Oceanic multi-band radio from c.1965 that I pulled out of the basement a while ago. I think it might still work. Battery case had a little corrosion from old batteries left in it and the plastic cover is missing. Some models came with an AC-DC adaptor; this one didn't but I'm sure I could rig up a connector for 12v. Has an extendable antenna in the handle and a second antenna with suction cups to go on a window.

 

[smoothshooter]

I am a retired TV engineer.

In times of power outage RADIO will be your most reliable source of information.

I do not mean portable radios.
Many will not have good batteries.

Look out the window.
That car has a Radio and a BIG Charged battery.
Fuel in tank will allow running motor to recharge battery.

Bekeart

Portable radios are perfect for regular and emergency use. I use mine every day. I have 3. I also have lots of spare batteries. Much preferred to being dependent on a vehicle. Infinitely portable, too.

 

[Rudi]

C Crain Company in Cal. has a lot of emergency radios, check out their web site.

 

[Old 44 Guy]

I have 2 battery radios plus a Generac. And my truck has a full charged batt.

 

[Rat458]

Always have a wind up battery radio around.
Having a radio with Weather Alert can also be very helpful to save your life in certain areas of the country.
Am a Ham radio operator and that opens up a whole nother world of useful information that can be helpful.

 

[jcs266]

Ham radio and even CB Radio can be your only link if times really get weird and the cell phones are down. Internet? Who knows if it's available or not either.

 

[NYlakesider]

Ham radio and even CB Radio can be your only link if times really get weird and the cell phones are down. Internet? Who knows if it's available or not either.

Well in early July we got hit by a bunch of tornadoes here in northern NY. Did lots of damage (some places looked like clear cut), some roads were closed for close to a week. A good friend was trapped in his house for a few days by the amount of trees/ poles down an used his boat to get to a neighbor.

We lost internet, landlines and even cell service got knocked out. At my place we lost interne, cable and cell for over 30 hours, LL for 5 days many others were out a lot longer. About the only communication many had was by jumping on a ATV.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

The best part pf losing power is NOT hearing the news.

 

[DWalt]

I have a 750 W AC inverter which plugs into the car cigarette lighter socket or hooks directly to your car battery. I have never needed to use it. While 750 W is not much, it is vastly better than having no AC power at all. It is enough for small appliances and electronics, and will keep some lights on so long as you have gasoline for your car to keep the engine idling. I believe larger capacity inverters are available, have not checked any details about that, or what the maximum inverter power output for a car is.