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Comment by mariojv | Hacker News Reader

What is the best type of radio, or best type of radios, to have in the event of a protracted, possibly nuclear conflict?

Ready.gov suggests a hand crank or NOAA weather radio. Specifically, I suppose some good goals would be:

1. Receive instructions from any functioning local or state government. This would require that the local government know which type of radio the populace is likely to be listening on, which gives an advantage to FM or weather radios.

2. Communicate with other regional survivors.

3. Global news, for which shortwave would be indispensable.

Maybe multiple radios that can receive on different frequencies would be best? I really know very little about this topic other than basic physical signal characteristics.

Edit: I don't "prep," but I occasionally browse this website when doomscrolling, which has a few suggestions: https://theprepared.com/gear/reviews/emergency-radio/

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SWLing Post has a lot of info. Very friendly group there.

https://swling.com/blog/2022/03/everyone-should-have-a-short...

https://swling.com/blog/resources/shortwave-radio-reviews/

Yes - good resource.

A modern portable SW radio is very capable and power efficient on batteries. Do please explore the links provided above. Happy to help if you have any questions.

I'm interested and considering getting an amateur radio license.

It's not clear yet, but I wanted to get a single portable device that allows for reception of all the most important frequencies, which I think includes shortwave, HF, VHF, NOAA weather and the amateur radio bands.

Is there a device that does all of this?

There are a few "hardware" Wideband radio receivers out there, depending on budget. Have a look at the site links below - the site does not claim to be a definitive list, and is focused around the pictures of the equipment.

The "big three". Some of the more modern bits of kit cover "DC to Daylight" frequencies.

Yaesu https://www.rigpix.com/yaesu/yaesuselect.htm

Icon https://www.rigpix.com/icom/icomselect.htm

Kenwood https://www.rigpix.com/kenwood/kenwoodselect.htm

For Wideband receiver's

https://www.rigpix.com/aor/aorselect.htm

https://www.rigpix.com/tecsun/tecsun.htm

https://www.rigpix.com/whistler/whistler.htm

Hope this helps.

The modern tools to have would be phones equipped with mesh networking and some solar powered chargers. There are a few nice things on the market for this that will charge your phone with just sunlight.

Some phones also used to have radios built in; I recall Nokia had a few models with radios built in. Some might still have that. Otherwise, building radios from parts is not that hard and used to be a rite of passage for kids interested in tinkering with electronics. I remember playing with a kit when I was about 9 or 10.

It would be interesting to learn what people on the ground in the Ukraine are doing that works.

I have two of the DEGEN DE-13 solar/hand crank multiband radios, and I gave several away to relatives and friends.

They sit on my window sill in the sun all year, for the situation that hopefully never comes.

Shortwave radios are cool but a lot of countries (eg Netherlands) have decommissioned their "world service" transmitters. And due to the massive antennas and high power needed these are not reinstated easily.

I would get a receiver that can receive the amateur bands too. These tend to be very active during emergencies. You'd need continuous coverage and SSB (LSB/USB) receive. Can be had for 100 bucks or so.

>2. Communicate with other regional survivors.

For the US, CB radio might be the best bet here, based on likelihood that some number of other locals might have one and be trying to use it. And "where to scavenge for one" is pretty straightforward.

Most likely AM radio. The range is thousands of miles at night, and most cars still have an AM receiver.

Correct about AM radio . FM radio, mention previously in other comments is only short range.

Local government is just going to wonder how they can get back on twitter if something serious happens.

I own a TECSUN PL-880 for listening to broadcasts. Plus handheld Binatone Action 1000s for short range communications. Plus some ham gear for VHF/UHF.

Getting licensed is pretty easy and you learn a lot about radio.

Shortwave with plenty of spare batteries. Disregard solar power – you won't be going outside or even near the windows for some time.

>Disregard solar power

Wires exist

So does overpressure.

When I was a teenager I used a $10 shortwave radio for SWling. I think it could take 5V for external power from eg. a hand crank if you really wanted that (although nowadays I'm sure people have solar panels laying around, they're so useful for things like boats etc.) I don't think you need anything fancy.

I have a Midland ER310

Shortwave/NOAA radio, flashlight, hand crank, solar panel, USB charger

https://midlandusa.com/products/er310-eready-emergency-crank...

You can't communicate with other though

probably an SDR? :)

Do you have any suggestions for I'm guessing like a USB receiver?

I just ordered a baofeng half out of late night panic, half out of interest in radio/learning about Ham licensing. I know it has a USB so can program it so would be legal without a license to broadcast. But I think can still listen without modifications.

AFAIK, in the US it is technically illegal to transmit with a Baofeng radio in any way without a license. Even if you program it to only use the FRS/GMRS frequencies, it is not properly FCC certified as a device that is legal for use on those bands by an unlicensed operator. (For one thing, it may exceed the legal output power limit.)

With an amateur license you can use pretty much whatever equipment you want, including homemade. But then the obligation to obey the legal limits is borne by you, not the manufacturer. And Baofeng radios have a reputation for emitting lots of nasty harmonics and noise outside the desired transmission bands.

Of course, none of this should deter you from using whatever is available in an emergency. The FCC regulations include a clause allowing you to bend the rules if it is immediately necessary to do so to prevent imminent danger to life or property.

thanks for the info.

Yeah it's not like I have anyone to talk to lol I don't plan on chatting up a storm. I figured it is better than the crappy plastic hand crank radio thing I have and to me this is pretty long tail risk likely never be in that much of a bad situation.

Plus ham is interesting to me so who knows maybe in the future worth investing the time.

SDR maybe useful if you already got a bunker to host and power the equipment needed. But if you already got a bunker, why not install a more powerful station?

Realistically, you probably want to have something mobile and not power-consuming, plus a solar panel (or any kind of generator). So maybe a set of LoRa device and/or goTenna, HAM radio + backup batteries, and AM/FM radios.

Or maybe just HAM radio + backup batteries.

I think I might just reignited my desire for a HAM radio license...just kidding, I'm living in a small city of 3KM radius, I'm will not survive the fireball if a nuke decided to hit us. So good luck for you, I guess.

SDR doesn’t require that much power

But there’s a lot of moving parts and it’s kind of the last thing you want to deal with in an emergency

Ham is not an acronym.

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