Budget emergency radio – is this a reasonable option?

Estel - July 21, 2022

I’m looking to get an emergency radio that would be suitable for my go bag, and I’m on a limited budget. This option is turning up on a website where I’m looking for other things, and the $20 CAD price seems great: https://72hours.ca/collections/radio-and-communication/products/72hrs-crusader-mini-noaa-radio-am-fm

Is there an obvious reason it would be a bad choice?

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I think that is a great choice for your go bag and even to weather out a disaster at home with. 

It’s weak point is probably it’s plastic construction, so if you can find a hard waterproof case to put it in, like a tupperware, that can give you some more reassurance that it won’t get crushed. 

The radio runs off of 2 AA batteries, I would put a few in that case with the radio. Wrap them in plastic wrap so the ends don’t bump into each other and discharge in your pack.

Place a cheap old pair of headphones in with the radio. Using headphones will be good to save battery life and also cut down on noise if you were in an evacuation shelter or wanting to keep your head down from bad guys.

Buy the radio and test it in various areas of your house and make sure you can get some reception. If there was a bad pandemic or nuclear attack and you have to shelter in place, you will want to be able to hear radio stations from inside your house. Return it and get something else if you can’t hear anything in your house.

Overall, I think that’s a great radio and would be something I would consider for my bag.

 

Thanks for the opinion and suggestions. I am definitely thinking that if it’s in my go bag, it’s also in my apartment and therefore could also be good for home use. I think I will go ahead and buy it when I order from that site.

 

In the UK one of the long standing conventions is that emergency transmissions will be on the long wave band.