RADIOS

I think I need to tell everyone that I write my blog post a day ahead. It is about eleven o'clock Wednesday morning and I am typing Thursday's blog. That way I don't get cold sweats during the night worrying about having a post to go up.



The news on the economic front is very distasteful and I have decided to write about my new radios. They make much more sense to me than reading about the Obama administration. The Obama-ites are some sick puppies, for sure.



The wife bought me two radios yesterday. She ran up on some rare money and decided to keep up the family prepping tradition. We had already talked about it and knew what we wanted.



Radio number one is a Grundig S350DL. I love it already and haven't even played the damn thing yet. How is that for insanity? But I have checked all over the place and everyone who seems to know about these radios says they are good as gold. I have started reading the directions on how to operate the damn thing. I want to know what I am supposed to do and not do before I crank this mutha up.



It is a neat looking piece of machinery. The tuning apparatus is a double knob affair. The outside knob eats up a lot of places on your dial and the inner knob goes real slow. This means you get slow and fast tuning to make things easier. I like things easier. Yep.



The radio is said to be able to get 14 bands for listening but one of them is the CB band. Good old Grundig does not tell you which band is the CB band. But I don't really want to listen to a bunch of motormouths on CB's right now so that is fine with me. The radio can be powered up with AA batteries, D cell batteries, or the handy dandy little 6 volt DC unit that comes with the machine. Pretty good little device that turns 120 volt Ac into 6 volt DC. The plug into the wall will be the easiest and the cheapest but it ain't gonna work in a grid down situation. Any kind of grid down
is exactly when I WANT the damn thing, especially if it is an Internet down. So we look for a local place to buy a solar battery charger, maybe even two of them so we will have a back up. I am thinking Walmart or maybe an auto parts emporium. But I will be wanting to know what the hell is going on with my friends around the country. I can hear about foreign troops getting crushed in Southeast central Kansas. I can hear about other foreign troops getting it handed to them in Texas, along the far Southern coast. And I don't even want to publicly divulge what will be getting dished out in Southern Mississippi. It's too bloody to talk about. And there are other places to keep track. We ain't going to take this one lieing down this time. Someone tries to pull the plug on us we will end up pulling the plug on them. We already know the results if we don't fight, so we may as well get in there and whip some ass. And I want to hear of the Brothers and Sisters kicking ass and taking names. You can do it, so be ready. And who knows? I may stumble upon a transmitter and be able to broadcast a bit myself. "Hey all of you out there in Short Wave land! The UN troops got the hell shot out of them today in Southern Indiana! Our forces are increasing and we are becoming very effective against outside invaders. Stand fast! We are winning!" I can hear "A County Boy Can Survive" in the background.



The other radio the Handmaiden picked up was put out by the same folks who make the Grundig. It is called a Microlink FR160 Emergency Preparedness Radio. It is a hand cranked NOAA weather radio. And it also has AM and FM. And it also has it's own solar charging cell built right into the mutha. If all else fails it has a hand crank that will give you some listening time. You can also charge it with a cell phone charger. Pretty neat piece of equipment. There seems to be a very good assortment of survival radios out on the market. Both of our new radios were purchased at Radio Shack. We got the big Grundig for $100. The weather radio with the Red Cross endorsement cost us $30. You could probably buy one cheaper but we wanted the solar charger capability. At this time I am pleased as punch with the Handmaiden's shopping ability.



But this should put us on the map as being a grid down source of information. And that is where we want to be. I hope this gives you some idea of what to look for in a radio that will help you in emergency times. Nothing too complicated. Can be found at a Radio Shack, which is everywhere. You can get them pretty reasonable and you do not have to study electronics in order to set them up. Good luck and stay alive.



Michael



mboone@rtccom.net