I am looking for a small LCD TV (12v/120v) to have available for
emergencies.

Are there any that the group would recommend?

Thanks for any suggestions.

TMT

"Too_Many_Tools" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am looking for a small LCD TV (12v/120v) to have available for
emergencies.

Are there any that the group would recommend?

Thanks for any suggestions.

TMT


Most of them are pretty similar internally, just shop around and find one
that doesn't feel too cheeply made, if it's only for emergencies it should
be fine, just keep the batteries separately rather than leaving them in the
battery compartment if not used for long periods.

Thanks for the response.

I always keep batteries separate...it is the only way to be sure that
you will not have damage from leakage.

Does anyone have any reviews for sensitivity, power consumption,
operating temperature range....again I am looking for something that
can be used in an emergency sense that would be easy on the batteries
and be rugged from an enviromental sense.

Thanks

TMT

Too_Many_Tools wrote:

Thanks for the response.

I always keep batteries separate...it is the only way to be sure that
you will not have damage from leakage.

Does anyone have any reviews for sensitivity, power consumption,
operating temperature range....again I am looking for something that
can be used in an emergency sense that would be easy on the batteries
and be rugged from an enviromental sense.

Thanks

TMT

Hi Too...

Just a couple of thoughts, if I may?

Assuming that you're preparing for the kinds of emergencies that the
USA has had a few of recently, if it were me I'd be tempted to stay
away from LCD's.

Think I'd like to get ahold of one of those little 5 inch sets of the
type that walmart sells for about 19 dollars (canadian). Emergency's
don't need large screens (power consuming), not colour (power
consuming), nor any of the other niceties. Information is all, isn't it?

And - those little sets also have built in am/fm radios. Far less
power conumption (assuming hydro is gone) and far far more to
choose from. Thinking that the other new "necessities" like cable
and satellite may be gone, you'd have at best perhaps half a dozen tv
stations in a large city; whereas there might be dozens of am and fm
stations within earshot. Surely more radio would survive. And
information is all you need.

And when and if power does become precious, you can even plug in a
little crystal earplug, reducing battery demand to almost nothing.

Finally, I'd get me two or three sets of the best alkalines I could
find; the freshest dated I could find. Leave them in the original
package still sealed so there's no chance that the kids will have
borrowed them for their infernal cd players and put 'em back half
dead. Replace them all once every year or two with new ones, give the
older ones to the teens

Just an old guy in Canada thinking out loud.

Ken

Good points.

I have small color LCD sets and they do come in handy but their screens
are rather small.

I have been in the middle of tornado activity and severe thunderstorms.
The color screen is needed to determine where the strongest storms are
via the weather radar displays shown on television.

The small B/W sets have small CRTs that I suspect use more current than
the small LCD screens...that is why I was wondering if anyone had
compared the different sets. A small color CRT set would have three
guns that would likely use even more current. In an extended emergency
situation, lower current draw is important.

The combination of a televison and radio is a good idea. At the same
time, sometimes you want separate televisions and radios so you have
redundanies of your communications gear.

TMT

"Ken Weitzel" wrote in message
news:PCKZe.551683$5V4.227121@pd7tw3no...


Too_Many_Tools wrote:

Thanks for the response.

I always keep batteries separate...it is the only way to be sure that
you will not have damage from leakage.

Does anyone have any reviews for sensitivity, power consumption,
operating temperature range....again I am looking for something that
can be used in an emergency sense that would be easy on the batteries
and be rugged from an enviromental sense.

Thanks

TMT

Hi Too...

Just a couple of thoughts, if I may?

Assuming that you're preparing for the kinds of emergencies that the
USA has had a few of recently, if it were me I'd be tempted to stay
away from LCD's.

Think I'd like to get ahold of one of those little 5 inch sets of the
type that walmart sells for about 19 dollars (canadian). Emergency's
don't need large screens (power consuming), not colour (power
consuming), nor any of the other niceties. Information is all, isn't it?



I'd be shocked if a color LCD uses even half the power of a B&W CRT, not to
mention for 19 bucks can you even count on the thing working in an
emergency? Personally I'd just get a radio, but for a little TV, LCD is the
way to go.

I would agree but have yet to see any real comparsions thus the subject
of the thread.

I too consider radio to be a basic need but after going through several
weather related emergencies of tornadoes, floods and forest fires I can
tell you that you need to be able to see what the local television
stations are broadcasting LIVE. The television also needs to display in
color since a number of real time maps and displays offered use color
to encode necessary data.

The handheld color LCD units work surprisely well but the screens can
be too small to make out some details...so the search goes on for a
somewhat larger but portable set.

TMT

Ken Weitzel wrote:

Hi Too...

Just a couple of thoughts, if I may?

Assuming that you're preparing for the kinds of emergencies that the
USA has had a few of recently, if it were me I'd be tempted to stay
away from LCD's.

Think I'd like to get ahold of one of those little 5 inch sets of the
type that walmart sells for about 19 dollars (canadian). Emergency's
don't need large screens (power consuming), not colour (power
consuming), nor any of the other niceties. Information is all, isn't it?

And - those little sets also have built in am/fm radios. Far less
power conumption (assuming hydro is gone) and far far more to
choose from. Thinking that the other new "necessities" like cable
and satellite may be gone, you'd have at best perhaps half a dozen tv
stations in a large city; whereas there might be dozens of am and fm
stations within earshot. Surely more radio would survive. And
information is all you need.

And when and if power does become precious, you can even plug in a
little crystal earplug, reducing battery demand to almost nothing.

Finally, I'd get me two or three sets of the best alkalines I could
find; the freshest dated I could find. Leave them in the original
package still sealed so there's no chance that the kids will have
borrowed them for their infernal cd players and put 'em back half
dead. Replace them all once every year or two with new ones, give the
older ones to the teens

Just an old guy in Canada thinking out loud.

Ken



When Ocala was hit last year there was only one weak TV signal
available, and no local radio stations, at first. the land lines were
out, and what was left of the cell system was overloaded by non
emergency traffic. Most of the cell sites have backup generators and
several days worth of fuel, so some sites were available long then
others. Some sites are near priority electrical users, so they had
power before others, but CATV and land line services were spotty for
weeks. Brighthouse sent trucks out with generators to recharge the
backup batteries to restore CATV service where they could, but when you
have hundreds of dead UPS systems in the area it just isn't possible to
do them all at once.

If you are planning for this kind of emergency a shortwave radio will
help a lot more, especially at night. Also, with the grid down for
several miles, the usual blanket of electrical noise was gone so i could
hear stations in other cities on AM, when they had power.

Its more important to keep at least a weeks worth of food and water,
flashlights and several weeks supply of ALL the different medicines
anyone in your family needs. I was without electricity for two
hurricanes last year, for a total of about a month. I had to use
buckets of rain water to flush the toilet, and to take a quick sponge
bath. I was lucky. I had prepared, with extra food and water. I had 2
liter bottles of ware in the freezer so i could have some cold water to
drink for about three days. After that, it was warm bottled water to
was down the food. SPAM, peanut butter and crackers, and some cans of
soup or vegetables. I heated them by putting the can on the dash of my
truck with all the windows up for a few hours. It wasn't as hot as I
liked it, but it was better than eating it cold. I missed the fresh
fruit and vegetables but I had enough food to keep me from going hungry.


--
?

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

I would argue that a radio that receives AM stations from a moderate
distance is likely the best device for hearing broadcasts that would
interest one in a disaster area. After you get a certain distance from
the event, stations do not carry revelant information for the
situation.

If you are in your home, a satellite dish would make sense for a news
feed.

Both assume that you have power to spare.

As I have mentioned before, I have been in several situations where it
was important to see what the live feed was from the local television
station so I have seen the usefulness of a small portable tv.

TMT

Too_Many_Tools wrote:

I would argue that a radio that receives AM stations from a moderate
distance is likely the best device for hearing broadcasts that would
interest one in a disaster area. After you get a certain distance from
the event, stations do not carry revelant information for the
situation.

If you are in your home, a satellite dish would make sense for a news
feed.

Both assume that you have power to spare.

As I have mentioned before, I have been in several situations where it
was important to see what the live feed was from the local television
station so I have seen the usefulness of a small portable tv.

TMT

Like I said, there were no local stations on the air at first, and
there was no electricity for almost a month, total. I did get some
information from stations outside the immediate area, because they were
in contact with the local EOC office and were helping get the
information out. A neighbor had a 12 V tv and ran his sat rec off an
inverter, but the only local TV station was off the air and couldn't
uplink any news to a bird so all he got was national news from TV. The
shortwave radio helped me to track the eyes of the hurricanes, and
later, to here international news after I was allowed to go home from
the hurricane shelter. Its better to have more resources than you
need, than not enough. I have a three week supply of fresh AA. C and D
cells, two battery radios, four good flashlights and almost three weeks
worth of food for emergencies. A couple times in my life I have found
myself stuck at home, and I learned to keep plenty of things for
emergencies. I rotate the supplies by buying fresh stuff and using the
oldest so I don't end up with a bunch of out of date food and drinking
water or batteries.
--
?

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

Too_Many_Tools wrote:
I would argue that a radio that receives AM stations from a moderate
distance is likely the best device for hearing broadcasts that would
interest one in a disaster area. After you get a certain distance from
the event, stations do not carry revelant information for the
situation.

If you are in your home, a satellite dish would make sense for a news
feed.

Both assume that you have power to spare.

As I have mentioned before, I have been in several situations where it
was important to see what the live feed was from the local television
station so I have seen the usefulness of a small portable tv.

TMT

I have several com devices which are handy in a weather emergency. The
LCD TV is very good to catch incoming weather radar images. A pair of
FRS radios with NOAA weather radio are also a plus. Add to that, a good
AM/FM portable, cell phone. Shortwave, I don't see as that useful, as
one is more concerned with local information, not Radio Havana.

The new programmable weather radios which operate off battery or AC are
great. You can set the alarm to only sound for *very* local
emergencies...a big improvement over the older, cheaper models which
sound off for any warning within the entire region.

jak

On 25 Sep 2005 14:04:44 -0700, "Too_Many_Tools"
wrote:

I am looking for a small LCD TV (12v/120v) to have available for
emergencies.

Are there any that the group would recommend?

Thanks for any suggestions.

TMT

What is Canada doing about digital? Is it going to make this tv
obsolete soon? If a digital to analog converter will be available,
will it run on batteries?

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let
me know if you have posted also.