Anyone planning on buying a wind up FM radio?

[Kepler22B]

As part of the Be Ready campaign https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwd094x57p32o

households are advised to have basic supplies in, in case of any disruption. Which brings us inline to quite a few other countries. Most is pretty normal and easy to get or we have in already.

Except for a wind up FM radio. I don’t have one of those. But I do love a gadget. Anyone have a wind up radio or planning on buying one?

My elderly neighbour bought one of the original Baylis wind up radios when they first appeared in the shops. Its still going today. It only needs a few winds to give an hour's listening time.

We have about 10l of water in the garage, 2 large torches, a bag of tea lights, probably enough cans for a few weeks and a charged power bank. That’ll have to do.

I have had one for years but recently upgraded to one that has a phone charger built in.

I'm in California and we're recommended to have at least 72 hours and ideally 14 days of emergency supplies! We currently have 5 days.

We have a fancy radio that's wind up, rechargeable and has a solar panel. We have several solar panel torches that are also rechargeable and 2 battery ones with a box of batteries. Also a USB charger that will take batteries and charge the radio, phones if we have any service, and the other torches.

Also a bucket toilet with plastic bags and toilet roll, mylar blankets, four tarps, rope, a first aid kit, pack of playing cards, two multitools, gloves, first aid kit, emergency pet kit and a bunch of other things I can't even remember but were part of a Red Cross "bug in" bag.

I see it as more the new cold war than world war III.

Yes I bought one about a month ago - it is also a power bank, a torch and will sound an alarm.

Thanks, I have a few foil blankets for when hiking but these ones were much more heavy duty. It's a while since I've looked online for them.

no they are new radios - 6 years old and just ordinary radios.
@godmum56 technology for wind up radios really hasn’t moved on that much in the last decade. It’s still basically a dynamo set up just with a battery attached. Very much like the old bike lights. They work well for a few uses than fall off a cliff edge.

@dizzydizzydizzy sounds the same as mine!

I have got a couple of cheapo thin ones in my car but I bought them years ago. You only need to break down in winter once, even with a winter coat in the car, to see how useful they are when you need them.

I just ordered one about 30 minutes ago. It can be used with batteries or wound up and it also has a solar panel and torch (plus a USB socket to charge a phone). It’s a Philips TAR1609.

What worries me is if the electric goes off. We have oil central heating ( no gas in the village) but of course the controls for that are electric. I don’t know how we’d keep warm. We do have a fireplace behind a decorative electric fire but the chimney has a stopper on it to stop birds coming down so I don’t think it would be adequate for an open fire. We are elderly so keeping warm is important for us and cold air exacerbates my asthma.

You can get bio ethanol heaters that don't use electric or gas, they are quite expensive though, a cheaper option is the older style portable calor gas heaters which you can still get.

aaaand here I am sat in the dark because powercut. The UPS (uninterruptible power supply) has cut in so I have got about 5 hours of router time. The camping stove is in the garage and I CBA to get it so guessing cold dinner tonight.

The camping blankets I posted upthread might be a good idea to use along with throws or blankets, you can use a scarf wrapped around your nose and mouth to use your face heat to warm the air or just keep your face inside the blankets. Ae you on your utility suppliers Priority services register?

I have a radio that takes batteries, I'm assuming that's ok??. I've bought a power bank so hoping I could keep my phone charged and use the torch on my phone and I've bought a couple of small battery powered lamps on Amazon. I hate to say it but I'm a bit scared to be honest.

Yeah I have one that’s not that great. It only works if someone is turning it all the time which I guess might be useful in a worse case scenario situation.

It takes batteries too but those huge chunky round ones.

I have no stockpile and not getting one either.
Neither do i need a radio or tea lights.
Am i prepared for anything no im not.
If anything is to happen let it happen i have nothing to lose.

What about your life?

I would feel the same if I didn’t have my kids. I just have zero desire personally to battle on through life in an environment of war/famine/disaster.

Don’t forget hand gel, as hand washing wouldn’t happen if the water went off

Why not just have a supply of batteries to keep a standard radio going?

I suppose because some people will run out of batteries or not be able to afford more one day, and having a radio that can work other ways is just a good backup? Not sure it's essential right now if you've got a battery powered radio and can afford lots of batteries though.

I wonder if there's an age effect here - the households that have battery powered radios already are probably skewed to be older, so if younger households without are buying something new, they might as well buy something with all the options from the start?

I seem to have loads of mini bottles of that scattered around in various cupboards from when I used to take it everywhere during COVID.

Be aware it does expire.