Tune in

You might have heard me mention that my neck of the woods recently got hit by a hurricane called Isaac. Despite the media, including weather related channels, preferring to focus on the New Orleans area primarily, these storms do actually hit other places. Alot. All the time, in fact. And more of this storm and its' never ending rain hit my state than Louisiana. But this isn't a complaint letter, so let me get to the point.

ER102.

I had the occasion to deploy my emergency radio for this little shindig. I have a Midland ER102 radio. Designed specifically for use as a small, portable emergency radio, it fits the bill just fine. I don't particularly need anything overly fancy in my emergency radio, and there are units out there with more whistles and bells. Down the road a piece I might upgrade to the XT511 Base Camp model, since it has a built in GMRS radio, we'll see. The ER102 can be picked up at most any sporting good store for around $50 nowadays.

The radio is pretty small, weighs nothing at all, and so won't put much of a dent in your camping or survival pack. It will run off of an included AC adapter, 3 AA batteries, or the included rechargeable battery which can also be charged by using the hand crank dynamo. This is a pretty neat feature if you plan to be away from AC or batteries for a while, and still need to be able to pick up radio. Since we're on the subject of power, you can even plug in a USB cable to the back and charge up your cell phone if you need to. I haven't yet tried this last bit, I'll report back when I've had occasion to give it a try.

Notice the hand crank.

All the controls are fairly straight forward and easy to use and read. The tuning dial tunes the station. The volume knob makes the sound louder or quieter, depending on which way you twist it. The band dial lets you pick from AM, FM, or Weather bands. The power switch is a little more complicated; it lets you pick from off, AC power/crank, or AA batteries. There is a slider switch to select which of the seven weather bands you want to tune into. Choose the one that comes in the best, it will be for your area. The most confusing switch on the whole unit is the Weather Alert switch, which allows you to choose how the radio gets your attention if NOAA decides you are in for a world of hurt. I leave this turned off, as I intentionally check this when I want to. If you were going to use this for a home based weather alert radio, you might opt for the siren or voice alert settings. On top of the radio are the buttons for the built in LED flashlight, and the backlight for the display button. The hand crank is on the right side of the unit. You turn it. That makes electricity.

Nice display.

The display is nice and large, and easy to read. I'm also partial to the redish-amber LED backlight for the display. The temp, clock, station, etc are all shown. Buttons here allow you to pick Fahrenheit - or Celsius if you live outside the U.S.A., set the time and alarm time, and so forth. It's all pretty simple to use.

I like the fact that such a portable radio is rechargeable in the field with the hand crank. I didn't have to use it luckily during the storm, the internal rechargeable battery held up for a long time with varied use. I never had a minutes trouble out of it. I highly recommend having a radio like this on hand, especially if you live in a part of the world where storms are a frequent problem. Having an emergency radio is also a good idea in preparation for other disasters or survival situations. Having access to emergency broadcasts of any type during a crisis will be the primary source of information. Don't think for a second you will be able to rely on the internet, it may well be down for good when you need use of this radio in a real pickle. Be safe, and plan ahead to stay safe.


-Owen