I have recently become more aware of and generally interested in electronics and amateur radio, and it got me thinking. What advantage, if any, would there be to having amateur radio experience, over a simple disaster crank radio/flashlight, in the event of a major natural disaster or some other emergency that leads to a longer delay in power being restored? For the sake of argument, let’s assume you have a generator or battery bank to supply your own electricity.
Could you run one of these on a generator? Like a small single-family generator with wheels
Yeah, no problem. Most ham radios are set up to use 12 volts so they can be installed in a vehicle. They don’t need a lot of power. But if you’re using it at home with normal 120v power (from the power company or from a generator) you actually have to get a power supply to feed it 12 volts. This is a cheap one: https://www.amazon.com/Regulated-Converter-Interface-Amplifiers-TOPPOWER-PS1330A/dp/B0CZP5C2PY?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&gQT=1
You could also hook it up to a 12v battery and use the generator to charge the battery.