Do you have a NOAA weather radio? New UPDATE, New Radio!

[KingTotsalot]

KT has had one for the past several years, a battery operated Midland, on the Royal Night Stand. So with the erratic weather we are having and moving into tornado season, KT decided to test it, only to find out that the 3 AA batteries had corroded the contacts and it was deemed inoperable after cleaning the contacts and installing new batteries...just dead fred. So into the trash can it went and KT spent a bit of time looking on both eBay and Amazon for another one. Found it on Amazon, around $17 with tax and free Amazon Prime shipping. For some reason, Amazon loves to give KT a free Prime 30 day trial membership every time He buys anything!

This time KT purchased two of the same unit. Of course, Chinese made, it had good reviews. Internal Li ion battery that you can charge by 3 methods...hand crank, solar (kind of a joke from the size of the small solar panel), and by USB plug from a charging station or your computer...comes with USB wire plugs setup. Also notable, AM, FM, weather band and off switch...old style knob type tuning, and built in flashlight....claims good for 7 hour full time use on full charge. Crank for 5 minutes to get 20 minutes play time on WB. Also adjustable speaker volume. Bright red color and collapsible antenna.

KT purchased 2....one for the bedside and one for the glove box of the Royal Coach. Has a built in cell phone charger also! Should be in by May 15 so His Majesty will report back at that time, with some comments and pictures.

At this price if only the darned WB works it will be good! They had a few shirt pocket sized ones for backpacking, camping, etc., but this one had a few good features like the flash light that would be handy for an auto emergency kit. Anyway, we shall see!

 

[metaladdict]

Sounds like the same one I have, it also has shortwave.

 

[amc rulz]

Have NOAA built into my home President McKinley radio.

 

[KingTotsalot]

Sounds like the same one I have, it also has shortwave.

Once KT gets it and posts some pictures, we will know how similar they are!

 

[KingTotsalot]

Have NOAA built into my home President McKinley radio.

Very cool, amc rulz! And how is your weather today? Our temps are dropping and we are expecting either ice or snow by 4 pm today. We are hoping it is the last gasp of winter! But who knows? Not even the weathermen!

KT has a Drs appointment at 1:45 and hope to get the Royal Coach back at the Castle before the messy weather arrives!

 

[amc rulz]

Very cool, amc rulz! And how is your weather today? Our temps are dropping and we are expecting either ice or snow by 4 pm today. We are hoping it is the last gasp of winter! But who knows? Not even the weathermen!

KT has a Drs appointment at 1:45 and hope to get the Royal Coach back at the Castle before the messy weather arrives!

Just had about 5” of snow come down overnight KT. Lows of 12 degrees tomorrow, then 66 degrees to warm things up by next Thursday!

 

[GKL]

Hey KT, let us know how well the $17 units work, sometimes we can be pleasantly surprised at how well budget priced stuff like that works, hope it does indeed work well !

We have a Midland weather radio, we got it for free last year, they were giving them away free at a local fair to anyone who wanted one. Sorry to hear about your batteries, I have to try to remember to check batteries occasionally in devices that don't get regular use enough to need to change them that often.

 

[Digger Boy]

I still have one of those Midlands just like you are describing. I bought it because when there is no electricity I can charge it with the hand crank and also charge my phone with it.

I'm Pretty sure you can get weather alerts sent to your phone.

 

[GKL]

I still have one of those Midlands just like you are describing. I bought it because when there is no electricity I can charge it with the hand crank and also charge my phone with it.

I'm Pretty sure you can get weather alerts sent to your phone.

Glad you mentioned that, it is possible to have severe weather alerts sent to your phone where it will give a warning tone to get your attention and then tell you what the alert is for.

I remember getting those on my phone in the past, might need to see about adding that function to our current phones, might be different according to the area you live in, I need to research it more as it's been a while.

 

[KingTotsalot]

Hey KT, let us know how well the $17 units work, sometimes we can be pleasantly surprised at how well budget priced stuff like that works, hope it does indeed work well !

We have a Midland weather radio, we got it for free last year, they were giving them away free at a local fair to anyone who wanted one. Sorry to hear about your batteries, I have to try to remember to check batteries occasionally in devices that don't get regular use enough to need to change them that often.

KT had purchased that Midland WB radio at a flea market 4 years ago sans batteries and no wall converter for $2, so it was not a great loss. We shall see what gives with these two newer units when they come in.

Meanwhile, here is a picture I took 10 minutes after getting back to the Castle from my errands today! Time: 3/45....will post another tomorrow morning!

 

[KingTotsalot]

I still have one of those Midlands just like you are describing. I bought it because when there is no electricity I can charge it with the hand crank and also charge my phone with it.

I'm Pretty sure you can get weather alerts sent to your phone.

You can get them. The Queen has a smart phone and KT is constantly bothered by it going off when she leaves it in the Kitchen and is in the Royal Bedroom!

But KT has a dumb flip phone and no way to add the app to His Majesty's Royal Phone. Besides KT wants to check on the weather situation whenever, not be awakened in the middle of the night by some app!

 

[GKL]

KT had purchased that Midland WB radio at a flea market 4 years ago sans batteries and no wall converter for $2, so it was not a great loss. We shall see what gives with these two newer units when they come in.

Meanwhile, here is a picture I took 10 minutes after getting back to the Castle from my errands today! Time: 3/45....will post another tomorrow morning!

Hope you are feeling better KT !

Wow, our precipitation is in the form of rain today but I can't complain after hearing about your snow as well as Dave from Missouri said this morning he woke up and saw snow on the ground

I did have very good timing today though, about 10 minutes after coming back in the house after taking our dog for a walk it started pouring down rain, wouldn't have bothered my dog though, she knows I would have dried her off with an old bath towel after us getting back inside

 

[hoser]

Well, your highness, this humble serf had a small handheld one for many years. It worked really well. I used it when I went out in the boat fishing. It saved my bacon one day too. Out fishing, bright sun and rather warm. Radio sounded off of an approaching bad thunderstorm. I looked around and thought it was just a fluke but decided to heed the warning and head for shore. I had just enough time to beach the boat and run to the car before all heck broke loose. So yes they are worth the money for sure.

 

[KingTotsalot]

Well, your highness, this humble serf had a small handheld one for many years. It worked really well. I used it when I went out in the boat fishing. It saved my bacon one day too. Out fishing, bright sun and rather warm. Radio sounded off of an approaching bad thunderstorm. I looked around and thought it was just a fluke but decided to heed the warning and head for shore. I had just enough time to beach the boat and run to the car before all heck broke loose. So yes they are worth the money for sure.

Boy, hoser! One close call, for certain! Thanks for relating that story!

Referencing that late afternoon snow picture above, here is the final result this morning at 10 am. The snow fell in large wet flakes and stuck to everything but the roads which were too warm....thank goodness! We heard of no traffic accidents due to it. It ended 30 minutes after midnight. It should be basically melted off by the end of the day! Enjoy the pic!

 

[beamwalker]

i have a baofeng uv5r that i can just program the frequency in and listen, if i was a bad ham i could broadcast

 

[KingTotsalot]

KT was checking His Royal Amazon Order and discovered that the delivery date is around the middle of May! His Majesty guesses they are coming on a slow boat from China!

Just wanted to let folks know so the middle of April KT does not get any enquiries as to "have they come yet"!

 

[Digger Boy]

. . . and discovered that the delivery date is around the middle of May!

I wonder why?

I'm all in Favor of Privatizing the Post Office.
Let FedX or UPS take over Mail Delivery and I guarantee you will get your stuff faster!

The Pony Express ceased operations on October 26, 1861.

 

[KingTotsalot]

I wonder why?

I'm all in Favor of Privatizing the Post Office.
Let FedX or UPS take over Mail Delivery and I guarantee you will get your stuff faster!

The Pony Express ceased operations on October 26, 1861.

Union worker, he is on his 15 minute break every hour!

Shipping is rather quick once an item reaches North America, but at this price, these radios are likely put in a shipping container and cross the Pacific by big boat! After all, shipping from China is free!

 

[mh9162013]

We have 4: 3 in bug out bags and 1 for the house. But we don't need these for weather emergencies, as we get notifications of severe whether in out locality via landline and cellphone. Three of these are Eton models with various forms of power (built in battery, AAA/AA batteries, crank and solar).

We keep weather radios in case there's some national disaster with all conventional forms of communication disabled (cell, TV, landline, etc.)

 

[GKL]

We have 4: 3 in bug out bags and 1 for the house. But we don't need these for weather emergencies, as we get notifications of severe whether in out locality via landline and cellphone. Three of these are Eton models with various forms of power (built in battery, AAA/AA batteries, crank and solar).

We keep weather radios in case there's some national disaster with all conventional forms of communication disabled (cell, TV, landline, etc.)

Good idea about also having solar and crank powered devices !

Some like having a ham radio in case cellphone service is unavailable, of course you need to get a license, but as of right now the license is still free (could change soon) and is good for 10 years. A dependable handheld model like the Yaesu FT-60R is pretty popular as far as HT models.

We've very occasionally have had times when cellphone service was not dependable even without any emergencies going on.