Just a radio for the kitchen ....

[Arzosah]

But I'd still like it to be appropriate for prepstering, if the grid was down, whatever. Current thoughts:
- it needs to be fairly small, the current giant is one of those football-looking radio/cd/cassette type things.
- I'd like to use it from the mains, and for it to be capable of charging via usb. And batteries - I have solar capabilities at that level, though not any higher, yet.
- there are fewer and fewer radio stations that broadcast in analogue, so digital is the way to go, is that right? I'm not buying for the next year alone, I'd like it to last at least 5 years. Pensioner, here!
- I already have a windup radio in my Hotel Bag. If a new one *also* had windup capabilities, thats fine too, but not essential.

Any ideas on what the right model is? I'd like to buy it from Amazon simply because faffing about on survey sites has gained me some nice Amazon vouchers.

Thanks!

[daylen]

I've been looking for the same thing recently. There are a few on Amazon for around the £30 mark which are FM, DAB and DAB+. They allow connection via Bluetooth which is handy and can be battery powered (4AA) as well as mains. The only thing I can't see is USB chargable. They can charge USB devices when connected to the mains, but as far as I can see they can't be charged by USB.

I have a solar/USB AA battery charger so that doesn't matter too much for me.

I've been looking at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DNF3YMG/ ... rCb43J24Q8

[Arzosah]

Thanks daylen - the charging via usb isn't a dealbreaker, not at all, and the ability to charge two items itself is a nice extra (lots of nice extras, actually, bluetooth hadn't even occurred to me). Something else to research thats a good'un.

[jansman]

I have a little Sony 3x AA battery job in the kitchen and greenhouse. I have a Roberts DAB job in the workshop. That one is analogue and digital. I use rechargeables in that. About 30 quid as I recall

[Arzosah]

Thanks jansman! It looks like they've come down a lot in price since the last time someone in the family bought one, good to know.

[Yorkshire Andy]

I've got a Lidl special AA batteries or mains adapter.... Dab and FM

Think I paid £12 for it over the summer

[Jamesey1981]

I have a little goodmans DAB and FM radio in my shed, I got it ex display for about 8 quid but it was only 15 or 20 new.

Came with a mains adaptor and can run off four AAs, in the shed I run it off my lifelight solar system that powers my lights, just make sure you get a radio than can run on 5 volts and about half an amp and you can plug it into anything with a USB port, I got the cable off eBay for about 90 pence but I did have to add one of those clip on ferrite things to clean up the supply, the solar panel was acting as an antenna and didn't help DAB reception but with that on there it works perfectly.

If that's a route you want to go down then send me a picture of the mains adaptor and I will find the right cable for you if electrics aren't your thing, you just need to make sure you get the right polarity cable, as it'll likely be a USB to barrel connector that you want and sometimes they're centre negative and sometimes they're centre positive.

[Yorkshire Andy]

My radio is rated at 6v.

I have one of these

It works fine off a usb supply but some power banks cause mass interference especially to the dab signal

[Jamesey1981]

I found my solar interfered, my usual power banks were fine, but then my solar is essentially a power bank anyway.

A ferrite bead that I took off an old camera cable cleaned it up fine, I don't think the power inputs in the radios are very well shielded since they're supposed to run off a fairly clean mains supply but it's easily sorted, you'll either need two smallish ones or wrap the cable through it twice if it's big enough, reception isn't as quite as good as mains or battery but I only lost one or two stations, and my reception isn't great where I am so the signal is a bit weak, a stronger signal would probably get though better.

[Arzosah]

Came with a mains adaptor and can run off four AAs, in the shed I run it off my lifelight solar system that powers my lights, just make sure you get a radio than can run on 5 volts and about half an amp and you can plug it into anything with a USB port, I got the cable off eBay for about 90 pence but I did have to add one of those clip on ferrite things to clean up the supply, the solar panel was acting as an antenna and didn't help DAB reception but with that on there it works perfectly.

If that's a route you want to go down then send me a picture of the mains adaptor and I will find the right cable for you if electrics aren't your thing, you just need to make sure you get the right polarity cable, as it'll likely be a USB to barrel connector that you want and sometimes they're centre negative and sometimes they're centre positive.

Electrics and electronics just don't stay in my head, so far anyway. So:
- how do I know how many volts and amps something runs on, from the Amazon listing in particular?
- no idea what a clip on ferrite thing is or the polarity of a cable or any of the rest of that paragraph. I don't think I'd better go down that route ...

I'm not stupid, just completely ignorant, and I think I have a block about electrics, sorry. This one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Bedsid ... DA5RWDZC0Y
was in the listing that daylen linked to above, and I like it even more: mains and portable, a charging port, and even a headphone (which in my house would be useful for some situations).

So, if we had a medium-term grid down situation, I could use my solar charger to recharge the AA batteries, and then use them in the radio - that would be good enough, wouldn't it?