A look at Survival and Preparedness, Firearms, Ham Radio, German Shepherds, Photography and other related stuff! 73 Later, ZombieAxe :-)

Followers

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Ramblings on I want my portable digital TV!!!

Back on June 12, 2009 the FCC made many of our preps obsolete with the introduction of digital ONLY transmission of TV signals. Many of us had purchased and stashed away several B&W TV's. I remember picking up five for $25 several years ago at a sale.


Well when the FCC mandated the switch many of us were left without any means of watching news on EMERGENCY POWER... and lets face it moving pictures convey a bunch more information than words. There is nothing wrong with radios as they have their place too!

I was not aware of any small LCD TV's that would receive digital TV signals until I saw the weekly Big Lot sales paper. In it they had listed a Curtis 7" Portable LCD TV for $99. I was not quite sure if this would pick up the new digital TV signals, but if you look on the box you want it to have an ATSC/NTSC tuner which is the standard for digital signals (ATSC here).

HD local weather channel coming in clear

CATV/antenna and A/v plugs

The Curtis LCD has a very sharp picture and is very well made (for something from China). I like the fact that it has a 12V DC power cord (great for running it off of the solar power battery banks). I really like that it has a a CATV antenna input that allows you to tap into your cable or satellite signals, providing that you have the power to run them.

HD local weather channel coming in clear pic 2

Also it has a built in rechargeable battery (unsure of the run time as of yet) and a remote (how lazy do you have to be to sit far enough away from a 7" TV to use the remote??? LOL)

any aftermarket antenna will improve the signal

The stock telescopic whip did not pick up any station in my area (would work well in a large metro area), but the RCA 'rabbit ear' antennas that I got for emergency use with the main digital TV worked really well in receiving stations 50-60 miles away. With some of the higher end yagi antennas I bet you could bring the signals in from longer distances.

I was pleasantly suprised that by using the rabbit ears that 2 stations had special WX (weather) only stations. I will be tuning in to them when we have severe weather in our area to see what info they convey. They look like a variation of the Weather Channel with mostly National coverage.

When you are on emergency power you don't wanna run a 25" or larger TV, so this 7" will draw minimum power and still give me the info that will paint my situational awareness picture.

Now you DO have an option to watch the breaking news on a small portable low power draw TV set... maybe one of these days, they will be $5 a piece again!

Thanks for reading!

later,
ZA

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Ramblings on fresh eggs...

Yesterday we found that we had 3 fresh eggs waiting on us when we went to let the chickens out! So my chicken bunker has became a 'producer' instead of a 'consumer'! This morning we had 2 so the girls are ready and it is is nice.

As for me I have been working tons of OT, and it appears that summer is my 'dry season' for blog posts.

I will be working on a blog entry comparing the Blackhawk Gladius to the Leatherman Serac LED light.

Also I will be FINALLY giving my impressions on that nifty folding solar panel.

And for you iPhone freaks out there I will be doing a review of apps for the iPhone that S&Pers might find handy (barring and EMP attack of course).

So take it easy, thanks for reading and 73!

Later,
ZA

Disclaimer and Copyright Notice

The information presented in this blog are things I know how to do and have training for. To duplicate any information or techniques within is solely at the readers risk and ZombieAxe, ZombieAxe's Ramblings or Google shall not be liable for any advice and information posted within that results in damage/loss of property, injury, loss of limb, or death. By reading this blog you, your family, your heirs and even folks that have not been born yet, have entered into an electronic binding contract to not hold any entity liable (especially ME!) but YOURSELF for any damage/loss of property, injury, loss of limb, or death from reading this blog.

FTC Discalimer,

To the Federal Trade Commison:Zombie Axe/Zombie Axe's Ramblings is not being paid by anyone, bribed with free gear to test, or offered free trips to exotic locals to 'give good press' for a product. All products were personally purchased by myself with the intention of using them for myself and any thing I plug on this blog is an item I recommend because I HAVE TESTED IT and found it worthy of mention. Go after those travel agents who get the free cruises and leave us legit non commercial bloggers alone.

All material is copyright 2009 Zombie Axe and no material may be used without credit to the author in part or whole.

Sincerely
Zombie Axe