I tend to want the perfect item when I can arrange it. When I decide I want something, I conceive what I think to be the perfect one. A couple of years ago these hand cranked emergency radios started coming out. Or at least I started to notice them. I've been though the 89 earthquake. Bad snow storms. A couple overnight power outages. A radio does come in handy.

The strange thing about these radios are the frequency bands they include. Why would anyone buy a radio with the TV bands anymore? In less than 12 months, they will only receive white noise. Since these are emergency radios, why don't they all have the weather band? I finally found one manufacturer that puts the correct frequencies on the radio. The Kaito ka009.

It has AM, FM, shortwave, weather, air and TV. It can be powered by crank, solar, AA batteries and A/C adapter. It even comes in a water resistant pouch. It is still in the normal range for these radios, about $40. For $40, the weather and shortwave is a bit of a pain to tune. For that much, there is no fine tune knob.

But it is the first one I've found. They even have a model with cell phone adapters so the crank can be used to charge the cell phone.

This is a good product. The real test will come up when I really need the radio. Will it work after sitting on a shelf for some number of years? Will the NiCd batteries hold a charge? That will be the test.