05/08/2026
One of the most important pieces of equipment you can have for less than ten bucks.
Have a NOAA Radio. We say this all the time on the show.
Something everyone should have on hand is a NOAA weather radio. We tested a few of them and you can have this prep for around $10 off Amazon.
But it's not just for weather!
Something a lot of people don't know is that the government uses NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) bands for emergency alerts, functioning as an "All-Hazards" network that broadcasts warnings for non-weather emergencies alongside daily weather reports. Managed by the National Weather Service, this system alerts the public to dangers like terrorist strikes, chemical spills, and 911 outages, especially when cell service fails.
We tested a few of them and found one for pretty cheap that has some features people might not think about, like;
* An analog dial. This allows you to tune the radio before you turn it on for when every watt of battery power matters. It also draws less power than a digital display.
*AA batteries. A lot of the radios out there on the low-end have an internal, rechargable battery. This sounds convenient, but when that battery dies, the radio is useless.
*Both a speaker and a headphone jack. This allows you to listen as a group or save battery and/or preserve OPSEC by listening via headphones.
*And an AM/FM radio tuner. This allows the radio to have far more functionality than the NOAA bands alone.
We tested a bunch in the sub-$20 range and will post the link in the comments to the one we like (and hasn't broken yet).
If you like getting free, actionable Intel like this, please check out Stakeholder Prepping Podcast on all the regular podcast platforms. No doom & gloom, no politics or religion, and no ads.
