3 cheap, reliable hand-crank radios still available that aren't just for preppers: hear emergency broadcasts if the power grid fails
The government wants you to prepare with a radio
by https://www.techradar.com/author/tom-bedford · TechRadarNews By Tom Bedford Published 2 November 2026
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When I moved to Utah as a student a decade ago, I was alarmed to be handed a survival pack upon reaching my dorm. These were supplies to help me, should 'The Big One' strike. This cataclysmic confluence of earthquakes and tsunamis across the San Andreas fault was, I was told, long overdue, and could plunge half of the country into a Fallout-like situationship for a little while.
Well, now I'm back living in the UK, and apparently the apocalypse is coming for us here too: the government in Blighty has told us to stock up on tinned beans and survival supplies, and has even put out an emergency checklist of kit we should have prepared.
Among the obvious items on the list (tinned food to last three days; three liters of bottled water per person for each day we're stuck; blankets), the government advises you to own an FM radio, ideally a battery-powered or wind-up (see also: hand-crank) one. And retailers are reporting that many such models are selling out.
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For people confused about this: an FM radio is an old gadget from before Spotify and podcasts existed, which lets you tune into broadcasts put out by various companies (you could choose between dry BBC talk shows or countless playlists of awful music, punctuated by the most annoying ads).
I guess the government thinks people will start listening to the radio again if a 28 Days Later situation does arise; maybe they'll give you important broadcasts on the news, a droll hour-long report on a book from 50 years ago, or the same three pop songs on repeat.
Either way, you're going to need a wind-up radio so you're not dependent on mains power, so here are three options worth going for.
Philips TAR1609/00
The web is full of cheap Amazon wind-up radios that look like they'd break after three uses, so I've tried to keep it to known companies on this list. Case in point: Philips has its own model, and at £29.99 it's pretty cheap too. You can find it on Argos' website here.
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