boxes for emergency situations

Look here for boxes with external power adapters.
Note: not all are available at this time.
http://www.ezdigitaltv.com/Additiona...es_Matrix.html

I had thought I had found the best external power CECB that would work for me the MicroProse MPI-500PT* but the NTIA has not amended it to the list of approved and the MicroProse website has been down for some time now.

I have the Artec T3A Pro. It is small about the size of a 8 track tape. You can use the box with out a remote. For the price with coupon it is well worth it. Look around online I seen it the other day for $2.95 with a coupon not sure what site it was now.

Forgot one good thing. It keeps the Channels in memory even if not plug into a wall. You can rescan and it will add any new channels and keep the old ones also.

I rely on a battery (and crank) powered emergency radio. It seems to me that any TV solution would quickly run out of power.

Yeah, really. Get yourself one of those weather radios or an RF scanner.

If there's a bad storm occuring, you might not even be able to receive digital TV signals reliably.

gerhard911,

I've got several Portable TVs.

One is a 2.5" Color Sony WatchMan 4.5volts takes 3-AA batteries or uses a Sony 4.5v AC wall-wart or DC "auto" adapter. I've also got several older B&W units that have AC Adapters and 12v "auto" adapters. None of them are very large and I doubt would suck much power... I've got several 12volt "Jumper Packs" (12 volt battery for "Boosting" or "Jumping" a Car's dead/low battery) that have 12volt DC adapters for plugging in when away from the car. They can easily be found at local stores for about $20.

I keep one in the house and one in the car... So I could easily use a jumper pack to power a portable TV for several hours at least. When I'm on trips I regularly use my XM Ski-Fi 2 and 12v Car Craddle Kit with a Jumper Pack... That's needs about 6volts and can easily last more then 12 hours of continuous use.

I also have a Power Inverter if I need up to 300 WATTS of AC Power. My Jumper Packs wouldn't last very long at a full 300 Watts but could probably do fine for the low wattage AC adapters powering a portable TV and CECB.

I fully recommend the crank powered radios/flashlights/etc. I've got a crank radio and several dynamo(crank) radio/cell phone charger/LED flashlight combos that fit in a shirt pocket and go anywhere. Of coarse you need headphones or speakers and it's a "blind" digital scan but it meets my needs.

Rammitinski,

Good call on the Weather Radio. Many "Family" Radios (walkie talkies) come with access to the NOAA Weather Band. So you could get a Weather Alert Radio for the Home, A portable weather/am/fm radio for travel, and or a set of "Family" Radios for use "on the fly" and for talking to others before/during/after bad weather.

Sure these cecb boxes might use a lot of power, but if you have some sort of battery pback up such as a booster pack for jumping car batteries etc. they would last awhile.

Further a tv can be handy in emergency. Does anyone remember just two years ago
Katrina and N. Orleans those stations were on the air throughout WWL and the UHF
one I cant remember the call sign.. They moved but were still on the air and had
good information for people.

John

Agreed. Been using DTV the last 10 years and when the power goes out or get VERY Heavy Rains (like the recent Flash Flooding in the Region) you don't get a reliable signal. Still have Radio which is fine much of the time... But nothing beats a LIVE Weather Team, Radar, and "On the Spot" Reports of conditions on the ground.

When I get a couple Converter Boxes in my hands I'll need to dust off the Aerial Antenna and reconfigure my setup to go OTA again. Been paying for those Locals for so long...

I have a weather radio. But have seen a few times when local tv gives info before radio does. I use both in a storm but tv they give video of what is going on outside plus the fact it is something to watch well your board out of your head with no power.

That's why I also mentioned the radio scanner. You can listen to the storm spotters live. They can tell you when something's going to hit your area before it gets there right down to the minute. You can also listen to your local police, emergency, electric company (etc.) frequencies.

Just get this Radio Shack model and you will be all set. The only possible problem is that it uses an internal battery, not AA batteries.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2855063

Excellent Point. I haven't really considered Radio Scanners seriously... Have several family members with Scanners and I have heard several (non-public emergency) events that if the dispatcher/officer/person started reporting Public Emergency or "relevant to me" info... That would be VERY good information to have. It would likely be "LOCAL LIVE INFO." that Radio/TV/News would eventually pickup and report. Since my Milwaukee "Local" TV Stations might not be as quick to report concerns in my area a radio scanner might another tool in my "emergency" kit.

Of coarse having "Live" as it happens reports can sometimes be inaccurate so I'd probably want to "balance" anything I get off the scanner with other data whenever possible.

Here is where I got mine at they have fast shipping.
http://store.data-action.com/shop/st...sp?idProduct=4

Be a total of about $12.00 with the shipping added.

Or even here not sure what there shipping charge is.
http://dtv.bsat.net/pc-17-2-artec-t3...ertor-box.aspx