For those not in the know, “WX” when referred to as a band means “weather”, so I’m talking about portable radios that can receive the AM, FM and WX bands.
The deal when it comes to a portable radio is that everyone should own one for the simple reason that when the power is out, radio is quite literally your only way of getting up-to-date news after about three hours. Your internet may still be working but it’s running totally on battery backup at that point, and if you have a laptop, you have anywhere from 2 to around 15 hours depending on how long it can hold a charge. But that doesn’t mean much when your UPS battery runs out of power. After that, you’ve got the phone (assuming the cell towers are still working) and then word-of-mouth…
…unless you have a radio. And the best kind of radio to have is one that receives AM, FM and WX. Why all three? AM/FM gives you local news and traffic updates, and WX gives you detailed weather reports, so you’ve got all your bases covered.
Fortunately, portable radios that have the good stuff are surprisingly cheap and readily available. Here are two of them:
For 20 bucks(!), you basically can’t go wrong with this one. From the comment reviews I’ve read about this product, ham radio guys even approve of this one (they know more about radios than anyone else), so you know it’s good.
There are several things that make the WR-090 fantastic. First is the fact it’s digitally tuned, and no, it’s not half-assed digital tuning as this thing has real DSP in it. All seven NOAA channels are pre-programmed with digital precision. Yes, the antenna is telescopic up to 8 inches. Yes, the reception is fantastic. Yes, this radio can in fact survive a drop easily and is built truly rugged and not “just-looks-rugged”. As for the flashlight, yeah it’s dinky, but hey, it’s nice that it has it.
And I know this may sound dumb, but I’m actually glad it has an actual clock that can display time in 12 or 24-hour. No, it’s not atomic time (which would be seriously awesome), but when looking for portable radios you’d be surprised how difficult it is to find one with a clock on it.
On a final note for this radio, no, it’s nowhere near as capable as, say, the Kaito KA1103 Worldband radio. When you want a “radio that receives everything”, the KA1103 delivers in fine style (and also has alarm, sleep timer, automatic battery charging, etc.) But for what the WR-090 offers, it’s like I said, for 20 bucks you cannot go wrong here. It’s powered by three AAA batteries, and while the speaker doesn’t really project that well because of the unit’s size, it’s an acceptable tradeoff.
This radio doesn’t require batteries to be inserted. It’s charged by solar panel or hand crank. Yes, really. This is a true “survivalist’s radio”. If you’re the kind of person who never has batteries when you need them the most, well, that’s not a concern here. Just put the box in the sun or use the hand crank to give the internal battery a charge, and you’re good to go.
There are a few drawbacks to the SB-1059. First is the fact there’s no digital tuning, and per reviews I’ve read, when changing stations, the wheel is a little over-sensitive. Also, this is the kind of radio you have to test once a month to make sure it’s still working.
The quality of build here is nowhere near that of the WR-090 mentioned above, but, it’s selling point is the fact it charges itself with the sun or the hand crank, and the fact it sells for so cheap.
Generally speaking, this radio does get good reviews for what it is. It’s not anything super-duper, but like the WR-090 it’s cheap, available and it works. And said honestly, having a radio that can be powered by a few turns of a hand crank is cool.
Some reviews say the solar panel is good enough to where the unit can be charged indoors under a bright desk lamp. If that’s true, the SB-1059 would also make for a good radio in the office, as it’s small/compact, and the green casing is a good theft deterrent against co-workers with sticky fingers (I guarantee nobody else in the office has a green radio). 
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