Although now is not a hurricane season but I would like to share my experience of last year Hurricane Ike. I am quite well prepared by getting the windows board up, stocking up can food and water, flash light, candles, cash and many more that is handy for emergency. We were out of power for about 24 hours and we lost all communications like everyone else in the neighbourhood. We were left in the dark without A/C and no communication because phone lines are down and cell phone was not working. One very important device that we don’t have is the hand crank emergency radio. We lost touch with the status of hurricane path and all other important announcement.
An emergency radio is, broadly speaking, a radio receiver designed to remain functional in cases of power outage or isolation from contact with civilization. Such radios are often designed to run on minimal or no power sources. Emergency radios (all but the least expensive) are generally designed to cover more than just the standard AM and FM broadcasting bands; basic shortwave radio coverage (for situations where local radio is out or not available) is common, as well as weather radio in countries that provide that service. Shortwave radio operates between the frequencies of 3,000 kHz (3 MHz) and 30,000 kHz (30 MHz) and came to be referred to as such in the early days of radio because the wavelengths associated with this frequency range were shorter than the long wave lengths widely in use at that time.
Emergency radio is inexpensive so I would strongly recommend everyone to get one for their emergency prepareness item. It may look a little old fashion with a crank handle but it will definitely keep you to stay touch with what’s going on around you during the approaching, making land fall and even tornado warning.
