I know that this was mentioned on another thread, but I couldn't remember which one!
Back before Christmas I bought myself a wind up radio, which I hadn't gotten around to removing from the packaging. Well today I was working in the back shed (ironically wiring up a 12volt light and socket for the blacksmithing area) when I decided I wanted a bit of music. So I got the radio and followed the instructions, wound it for 1 minute. The instructions said I should get 20 minutes of radio for 1 minute of winding. That was 6 hours ago and it is still going strong!
There's just SOOO much power in your arms... :naka:
I'll have to look into that - I've wanted one for ages!
Ina
PS: Can't find it on google for the UK. As a matter of interest - how much did you pay for it? And has it a solar cell as well? And how many bands? (And any other technical info that might be of interest...?)
Argos have a few wind up radios, Cheapest one is £14.99.
A site called naturalcollection.com do too, along with a few other energy saving gadgets. Their stuff displays a dot system saying if it,s organic, fair trade,eco etc.
If anyone gives the argos cheepy a go, could you let me know if it,s any good?
Thanks tester
I bought my DD a wind up radio for xmas that has a torch too.It was from Robert Dyas (hardware shop) and £9.99.
I bought myself one aswell.It winds for 1 minute and lasts about 20 mins on the radio although it does depend how fast you wind.
We had one about 9 years ago when they were a lot newer which had no torch but was wind up, battery or solar.The solar panel worked excellently the first year we had it.We camped for a week and never used batteries for it at all. The winding handle did eventually break though and the solar panel must have worn out as it only ever seemed to have any oomph if you wound it..
I'm beginning to have second thoughts about buying one now... They mentioned again on the radio that in a few years' time it'll all be digital. So what's the good in buying a new radio now, if I can't use it in 5 years or so? My current radio has already lasted for over 20 years and is still perfect; and if I buy a new one I'd expect it to last that long, too!
Ina
I'm a size 10, really; I wear a 20 for comfort. (Gina Yashere)
I don't think there is any timetable in place to phase out analogue radio. Digital radio is a growing technology, but someone on the radio was saying that it is a far more complicated issue than switching TV over to digital. For a start there are 100 million analogue radios in the UK. I doubt they will even think about switching off analogue until after the TV changeover is complete in 2012. Then there will probably be years of consultation, planning and advanced warning, followed by a gradual phase out. Apparently, also, there are far more technical difficulties in switching off analogue radio. Digital radio will increase its coverage, but will run alongside analogue for a while yet.
But while I'm on the subject, I've been thinking of buying a DAB radio for a while now, for it's potentially higher sound quality and extra stations. But I can't decide which is the best approach - buy a cheap all-in-one hifi unit that does everything I need, but will probably be broken in a few years time; or buy higher quality individual 'seperates' which should theoretically last me a lifetime. Trouble is, this would be a much more expensive way of doing it, so I'd have to buy them one at a time over a few years, and technology keeps racing ahead anyway, so does it really make much sense?
Must admit, I have very low expectations of all this technical stuff... As long as I get radio 4, and the quality is good enough so I can understand what they are saying, I'm quite happy. Very, very rarely can I be bothered even to change the station for a concert or so! The good thing about radio 4 was also, when I lived even more up in the hills than I do now, I could get it on longwave. Oh, and in Germany I used to listen to it, too.
Ina
I'm a size 10, really; I wear a 20 for comfort. (Gina Yashere)
I bought my radio on Ebay. The Eton FR-200. It's a small radio that runs on batteries or handcranked (I hope this is a correct english word). I even managed to connect a small solar panel (15 x 10 cm) to it (saves your own energy ) It has FM, AM, SW, LW bands and a brilliant reception. There's even a small flashlight built in.
Love the idea of the DAB but a bit pricey and for goodness sake, don't tell my dh about the gadgetsuk site.... he'll start spending!!!!
