Emergency Weather Radios

The Google says that 162.400 + is VHF and doesn’t come in standard SW radios.
:frowning:

No - most SW receivers (or any other receivers unless specifically mentioned) do not cover NOAA WX/Weatherband.

These are 18650 powered.
This brand (Kaito) seems kinda of hit and miss.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HPFTBV4/?coliid=I2HGXMT9V48NYI&colid=1DU8QV86H0E2G&psc=0&ref\_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01I4W8EEE/ref=psdc_6893245011_t3_B0051QJJ1E

I ordered this one found one that’s refurbished and guaranteed for 90 days . I’ll just use it a bit to be sure it’s working. Maybe I’ll buy an new JB 18350 light to go along with it next month.

Need a few more 18350’s now!

Let us know what you think of it once you get it.

Sadly the new stuff is just junk . Grundig as well as other sold out and are now made poorly in china, Their name was bought or they just don't care any more . I have good old radios and wish for some added new technology added but who wants bad receive/poor sound quality and cheaply made junk that breaks after a few years . radio has followed in the Chinese footsteps of ( we can make it cheaper / work worse / break faster and you can sell your reputation, your good name and customer base down the river) . Short wave reception on these radios is a joke . They add endless needless worthless items to these radios to try to add value .( Where's the seat belt cutter or the compass ) ?

I'd like to modify a few older radios to run off of 18650's and add a charging circuit to the ones that take D size batteries .Plenty of room to work with. Generally I opt for radios that run on AA's since I have so many eneloop/rechargeables.

the internet killed radio

Let us know how you like it - I’d be willing to bet you did well for the price.

I just bought the Kaito ka500L. It’s unbelievably cheaply built and I wouldn’t get another. It looks great on paper. The L suffix is for “Long Lasting”. Basically it’s a ka500 with a 18650 battery for “longer lasting” LOL. They beefed up the solar panel as well which means instead of some marginal POS that doesn’t tread water, it will very slowly charge. I left mine in the window and it charged up from 3.702 volts to 3.76 volts in a couple of cloudy days. Which, by way of reference, is less than if you turn the crank handle 20 times. Regardless, at $50 it’s a very cheaply build product, the knob to select AM/FM/SW is poorly designed in that the choices are so close together that the cheap little POS plastic knob they use makes choosing channels a chore. The first one I got didn’t have the AM working, Kaito customer service was supurb and they quickly traded that one for one that was working. The builtin light is also a piece of crap even when compared to the Midland ER200.

My thought is if you need a cheap radio, buy a cheap one, the Kaito KA500L isn’t “cheap” although it straddles the line on price between cheap and not cheap. The Tecsun PL880 (expensive) also has a 18650 battery (but no crank or no solar etc etc) and is in my view is worth the extra money ($100 more so $59 vs $159) if you want a solid SHTF radio. At least you know it will work when you pull it out at a critical moment when it’s most needed.

The portables I have run on AA’s in the radio or a 6 volt wall wart. Well they run just fine on 5 volts so I took one of those Folomov A1 chargers I think, the one with the magnetic doohicky’s that stick to the battery, cut a USB cord off an old mouse, cut a plug off an old wall wart, little solder and heat shrink later, custom cable that will run my radios off any Li-Ion cell. I use high cap 26650’s for lots of runtime.

Side note, SW bands normally start at 1.8mhz and continue to 30mhz.

Thanks for the heads up I backed away from that Kaito brand. The good reviews seemed to be fake or from people who reviewed it by what it’s supposed to do not what it does.

If you have time could I get a picture of this invention?

Thanks

i have a decent one by lacrosse (though some of their other stuff is junk)
it probably isn;t available now
runs on 3 AA batteries

wle

I purchased this Midland ER200 NOAA Weather radio several years ago. It’s a very nice little “do all” portable radio.

Runs on a replicable 18650 battery

That one was on my list I seems nice . If the Sangean MMR-88 is a dud I might get it.

Thanks

I paid $27.69 for the ER200 a couple years back. It’s worth that and it’s a nice little radio. Not worth $60. You can’t simply drop a regular 18650 battery into it, there is a special connector which must be on the battery, and that connector is difficult to insert into the mating part on the radio without needlenose pliers. I think that detracts a lot, if you pull the radio out when you need it most (say the power is out) and the battery isn’t connected or needs to be traded out, you need one with a connector soldered on already and even then you’ll be monkeyf**ing around in the dark with it for a bit. I wish they had just left the battery as a 18650 (no connector). Buying a spare battery for it is expensive.

To their credit, Midland makes that process look easy (bottom link below), but trust me, even a small child’s fingers won’t fit in there. Old arthritic fingers even less so. Midlands list price for that battery is and insane $25. If you had the connector fitting I suppose you would make it yourself.

https://midlandusa.com/product/batt26l-rechargeable-battery/

https://midlandusa.staging.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ER200-Battery-Installation-Instructions.pdf

Nothing fancy. This is the second one I made, kinda crude but functional. The other one is buried in my bag. I tried to use the Xtar PB2 charger/power bank but the radio doesn’t pull enough current to keep the PB2 on. It also works with one of those Li-100 chargers/power banks but it is a bit bulkier. The Folomov charging cable just fits in my bag better. Just had to make sure I had the polarity right on the plug for the radio. This radio requires center negative, but I can change the polarity of the plug by swapping the magnetic connections on the battery.

The one Amazon review I read stated that the MMR-88 is a much better product than Midland ER200/ER210.

This. :arrow_upper_right:

When I see a simple radio that includes a flashlight, powerbank function, bluetoof connectivity to play t00nz from your phone, other idiotic crap, that screams to me that the radio in general is garbage, and they add all that other garbage to “add value”.

What’s sad is that people buy into it… and buy it.

If anyone cares, my “weather radio” is my scanner tuned with the NOAA freqs.

Miss the actual voice recordings, as the robots just sound creepy. “Uncanny valley”, and all…

[quote=toddcshoe]

Nothing fancy. This is the second one I made, kinda crude but functional. The other one is buried in my bag. I tried to use the Xtar PB2 charger/power bank but the radio doesn’t pull enough current to keep the PB2 on. It also works with one of those Li-100 chargers/power banks but it is a bit bulkier. The Folomov charging cable just fits in my bag better. Just had to make sure I had the polarity right on the plug for the radio. This radio requires center negative, but I can change the polarity of the plug by swapping the magnetic connections on the battery.

Great, now I understand. I have all of this
Thanks!