Path: ...!Xl.tags.giganews.com!local-1.nntp.ord.giganews.com!nntp.supernews.com!news.supernews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 04 May 2024 11:42:14 +0000 From: John Larkin Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design Subject: Re: AM radio law opposed by tech and auto industries is close to passing Date: Sat, 04 May 2024 04:40:27 -0700 Organization: Highland Tech Reply-To: xx@yy.com Message-ID: <2c7c3j1ad5df4t1vb0ombaue42o5hg5b99@4ax.com> References: X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 3.1/32.783 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Lines: 55 X-Trace: sv3-jh4uUCzLpHjzQ2bGGwFMwxvwhry5s200en9HQFbXB3iev47v4Dn5NsyBd61bLuv/duvi7qY/702W8Wm!VUO9EKL0WZON8z2h0P7LUB4kFGUGqxsgr8x6kgYBROltfD7rQWgGm6tXiHkkmLh/hAgbKeupmRtM!tekjFA== X-Complaints-To: www.supernews.com/docs/abuse.html X-DMCA-Complaints-To: www.supernews.com/docs/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.40 Bytes: 3684 On Sat, 4 May 2024 03:33:50 -0700, Don Y wrote: >On 5/4/2024 3:23 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote: >> On 2024-05-02 21:34, Don Y wrote: >>> You can legislate requirements for broadcasters (as a condition of >>> granting them use of the air waves) mandating they "conduct periodic >>> tests of (an) emergency broadcast capability".  But, you are ultimately >>> reliant on them to maintain that capability, despite any pressure on >>> profits, etc. >>> >>> We routinely lose TV reception due to outages on the mountain (where >>> most of the transmitters are located).  Imagine the consequences of >>> an earthquake or wildfire in areas where transmitters (or repeaters) >>> are located.  Or, hurricane, tornado, flood, etc. >>> >>> Not everyone owns a cell phone -- or keeps it ON for the convenience >>> of CALLERS!  The same can be said of all broadcast media (do I have >>> to keep a radio/TV ON 24/7/365 "just in case"? >> >> The cell network is very vulnerable to disasters, you can not rely on it. > >Especially if the disaster is "local" to the folks you want to inform. > >>> AM radio can be leveraged for wide area coverage without requiring >>> lots of other technology to keep it operational.  And, the receivers >>> can run for long periods of time on batteries (that are likely >>> stale) or clock-spring mechanisms (emergency radios). >> >> I have seen radios with a hand spun dynamo. > >I have one with a clockwork mechanism -- wind up a large spring and >it drives a small "generator" as it unwinds. It takes about 5 minutes >to unwind completely so it's a relatively low "winding" duty cycle. > >But, it is large-ish. > >It also has solar cells and a small, internal battery (which is toast; >but, attempting to disassemble it to replace the battery would likely >result in a mess of gears and torsion spring parts!) As the spring mechanism >will run the radio despite the bad battery, it seems a safer plan to just >tolerate the bad battery! > >> I saw some electronic magazine publishing one such radio made using the motor >> from a floppy drive (if memory serves) as generator. > > A lithium battery is a more sensible idea for an emergency AM radio. People keep inventing silly micropower energy-harvesting things, when a Tadiran battery will last your lifetime. Or just keep a bunch of AA batteries in your fridge.