wenzeslaus
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KA-450 looks analog. same features, smaller size.
Emergency radio
- Thread starter jazzboypro
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wenzeslaus
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one thing the FR-200 has that these don't is fine tuning. something they need but don't have.
wenzeslaus
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and the KA-550
In all of them the solar panel looks too small (except the 550 which I can't see at all).
There are still durability and power draw questions.
I like the previous idea of get a good radio, then build up your own power and antenna system to suit... Although it negates the one box package arrangement.
In my case, my power system is fine, I just need a better radio (maybe), and of course antennas
Thanks
Joel
There are still durability and power draw questions.
I like the previous idea of get a good radio, then build up your own power and antenna system to suit... Although it negates the one box package arrangement.
In my case, my power system is fine, I just need a better radio (maybe), and of course antennas
Thanks
Joel
If your radio can use a USB port, then one idea is the one I posted earlier, A Ryobi 18 volt inverter / charger with a good sized solar panel and several) batteries, I use mine (it has USB and 120 volt outlets) to power a (6 watt) light for reading), I got tired of wearing head lights.
I get a lot of power outages for some reason, about 5 days was the longest, 18 hours is normal, and 5 hours is pretty common. It's mostly for comfort that I use battery back up on things, I use a 40 volt Ryobi inverter (lots of battery powered tools/ lawnmower etc) to power a mid -size TV for the sake of sanity (for others, I like the books) (I can get quite a few over the air channels, and I've converted a bunch of DVD's to flash drive).
As far as the important stuff like the fridge, not yet, but thinking of a bigger inverter.
Thanks
Joel
K6GBW
Member
I try not to overthink it. I have a small AM/FM pocket type radio that runs on 2AA batteries. If I just listen to the news a few times a day those batteries will last me for weeks. Then I keep a good stock of spare batteries and I'm all set. I gave up on having SW radio since there's almost no real broadcasts on it anymore. The AM radio stations have good wide area range so I just work with that.
This.
You can easily cobble together a couple of small crystalline solar cells if you need to get 3v DC to run it, if you wanted to save the batteries for nighttime. Small, simple and durable.
wenzeslaus
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instead of taking all that time to burn through a set of batteries, why not just measure the power your radio uses?
measure milli-amps with a multimeter, times voltage you get from the batteries equals mW.
for example, it's using 6 mA. your 4 batteries are all 1.4V so total voltage is 5.6V, that's 33.6 mW.
if you want to know how long the batteries would last, say that brand of batteries holds 2400 mAh. 2400/6= 71 hours.
A very universal little "emergency" radio is the LiJiANi Rd239.
It receives nearly everything from MW up and has BT, ....
The radio I have does not have USB. It uses 4 AA batteries or wall adapter. I do have a Jackery 500 power station. I can plug the radio into it but that would trigger the inverter. consumer grade inverters have a 75-85% efficiency rate and top of the line inverters have an efficiency rate of 90-95% either way it sounds like a waste of power just to power a small radio. Power outage tend to happen during winter over here most of the it happens during freezing rain episodes. Last April I was out of power for 6 days. Fortunately I have a 120 Ah LIFEPO4 batteries to power my amateur gear. I am currently looking at Ecoflow products tu supplement the Jackery 500 I already have.
I already made the test with Duracell rechargeable batteries I already have and it lasted 24 hours. Did the same test using Eneloop Pro rechargeable batteries I just bought and got 27 hours
Thanks, I will look into it.
Yes.. Just check out Amazon... https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics...-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1
...so you can listen to some Clarence Carter.
a29zuk
Member
No reason to get cranky If you just want to hear your local AM broadcast station and have an existing outside end fed or dipole, build a crystal set and you won't need any batteries!
Here's one example of many:
Jim
If you just want to hear your local AM broadcast station and have an existing outside end fed or dipole, build a crystal set and you won't need any batteries!Here's one example of many:
Jim
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paulears
Member
So many of these radios appear to be identical, how do they perform?
They are often a Chinese copy of a Chinese copy of a Chinese copy ...
For example the LiJiANi Rd239, I mentioned in #30, is possibly based on the C.Crane CC Skywave.
wenzeslaus
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in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, image rejection, power usage, audio quality, or what?
paulears
Member
Any of them. I'm old enough to remember when SW radios were all like this and just wondered what people thought of them. I'd not even thought the first three would be high on the list - simply because of the somewhat, er, elderly design where selectivity in particular was barn door wide, first past the post wins. I just wondered if they are the kind of thing modern self-respecting foreign spies would have in their suitcase? Can they hear the numbers stations?
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