A radio is an essential and very necessary part of your survival gear. 
​In any disaster situation you must be able to keep up to date with the latest information to ensure you are able to keep ahead of any trouble, and the humble radio is the first choice, more precisely a solar powered radio, in keeping yourself informed and a prepper 'must have', whether at home or in your bug out bag.

Many radios only work on standard batteries, and as such, are frowned upon by preppers as something to be avoided if at all possible. Their lack of longevity makes the battery powered radio pretty useless. 

But, for longer term survival situations, the answer is to look for the best solar powered radio that eliminate the need to replace batteries.

My personal choice for the best solar powered radio: is the Duronic Apex Digital Wind Up/Solar Radio, shown below:
It ticks all the boxes for me.

When you first get your solar powered radio I would suggest giving a full charge using the USB charging port on your pc to start with. That makes life a lot easier.

When it comes to solar radios, the charge times will vary from make to make and also from day to day.
The quality and amount of sunshine the solar panel absorbs has too many variables to really give an accurate playback time, but I have never had any problems when I leave mine out in during the day.

Using the additional wind up method is very handy and I have found that 30 seconds of winding the hand crank will give 9 minutes of playback time.

If you use the built in torch or the phone charging socket this is reduced considerably.

An Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) is, simply stated, a burst of electromagnetic energy.
It can occur as a radiated, electric or magnetic pulse.

There are also Naturally occurring EMP’s which can be caused by lightning and from electrostatic discharges when two charged objects come in close proximity, or by making contact.

An EMP can be cause by a surfac​​​​e or atmospheric nuclear detonation

An EMP can also be man-made, and equipment designed to produce an Electromagnetic Pulse would be used to target specific buildings, installations and equipment.

Solar Storms And ElectroMagnetic Pulses Go Hand In Hand

There is a very strong belief that any long-term loss of the electrical system would put the world or a country back 150 years.

There will be casualties caused by the effects of a pulse.

A widespread loss of electricity will cause mayhem in any community.

Hospitals and care centres will not be operational because backup generators will not operate, lifesaving equipment would fail and be nothing would work.

Emergency services will be shut down as well, loss of comms and transport grinding them to a halt, which means no law enforcement or emergency response to medical emergencies.

Smaller aircraft can be flown without instruments, but many commercial jets and other aircraft rely on electronics to navigate. Only those that can fly by dead reckoning without instruments would have a chance of landing safely.

Literally, an Electromagnetic Pulse could mean aircraft would be falling from the skies causing untold numbers of fatalities.

People not prepared could very well succumb to hypothermia and hyperthermia. 

Dehydration will be a threat for many in a matter of days as well as starvation in the days after. Mobile and landline phones will not function and any hand-held communications devices unless properly shielded will not operate after an EMP.

You have to remember that any task you complete today using electricity will still have to be completed in the days after the power goes out.

The Faraday Cage or Faraday Shield is simply an enclosure used in order to block out an electrical field and a way of protecting electronic equipment from an EMP.

The Faraday cage was named after the English scientist, Michael Faraday, who invented them in 1836

It can be as simple as wrapping a device in aluminium foil. The cage must be made of a conductor of electricity ideally copper, aluminium or steel.

The items protected should be nested inside the cage with Styrofoam or other plastic material without touching the metal walls. Ground the metal cage if possible.

If using foil, wrap the devices and then place in a plastic bag/other plastic material and then wrap again in foil. The more layers of foil and plastic you have the greater protection afforded.

This is a very rudimentary shielding method but can be used when no other materials are available.

Two way radios, solar chargers, smart phone (with all survival information loaded), batteries, Radio, Torches/Lanterns - all essential survival equipment.

Packing these items individually into Faraday pouches like the one shown above will protect from an outside electric source like an EMP. 

Protecting your electrical equipment is essential for your future survival, plus its going to make your life a lot easier in the long run.

What will happen is the EMP will flow over and around the box or microwave and then try to find the shortest route to the ground. The metal piping will give this route and bypass your items inside the cage.

An Electromagnetic pulse will destroy computers, your USB devices, as well as hard drives. In effect it will fry and make inoperative, just about any device that has an electronic component within it.

The only way to protect it is to ensure it is shielded in some way.

The internet and all mobile phone networks will be effected as well, so don't rely on comms via your phone.

Major disruption for all transport systems will occur in an EMP strike. Causing untold disruption and confusion.

You vehicle will suddenly lose all its electrical and electronic controls and die. Leaving you high n dry wherever you find yourself at the time.!

Driving at 70mph or parked in your garage, it will be zapped, and rendered useless, and that includes the battery as well.

It is almost impossible to try to shield a full sized vehicle and very unpractical as well. Although it would be quite possible for smaller modes of transport, typically a small motor bike or scooter could have its own cage and be shielded.

When an EMP stike happens it would bring vehicles to a standstill, meaning the roadways will be clogged with unusable cars, bikes, lorries and, more worrying, emergency vehicles.

People could be literally miles away from their home and totally stranded.

As preppers, most of the general disaster scenarios will be covered. Certainly enough for you to ride out the first month or so.

You always have to assume the worst otherwise you would never be prepared.

You should have at least a 90-day supply of food, water, medicines and medical supplies. Once people realise there was an EMP, panic will ensue and the shops and other establishments will be looted quickly. You will not be able to go shopping to get anything at this point.

The pulse itself is not dangerous to you physically but the results of the pulse will be. The thing you need to fear the most in some cases will be other humans once desperation sets in. Keep the fact you are a prepper and therefor are well supplied a secret from everyone.

You need protection from the cold so have plenty of blankets/thermal blankets and wood or coal if you have a fireplace/stove. Most people rely on the village main for their water supply so you may not have running water. Private water wells are one option if you have the means and property to have one dug or drilled and remember you will need to have hand water pumps installed.  

Charcoal or bottled gas is an option for cooking and gas can be used for heating in some cases but you will not be able to resupply. Of course, you can only cook using charcoal or wood outside.

Laundry and bathing will be a problem because of a limited water supply and not having the ability to heat water efficiently. Hand wash clothes and bathe using collected rainwater. You can place water collection barrels to capture runoff but ensure the barrels are screened to filter out debris and prevent insect breeding. Use large kettles to heat the collected water for laundry and bathing. It is impractical to think you can store enough water in jugs to sustain you indefinably so you will have to develop alternative means of obtaining water.

Certain 'rays' like radar and microwave radiation can actually cook flesh, so this type most definitely needs to be avoided at all costs.

The correct conditions required are simply not present in an EMP derived from a solar flare, nuclear detonation, or any electromagnetic weapon to produce damage to the body.

The reason an EMP does not damage the body is due to the duration of the pulse.  A quick EMP pulse would simply pass right through.

To cause any bodily damage you would require a sustained magnetic field. That field would need to be constantly increasing in magnitude thus causing current flow for at least a few milliseconds. However, this isn't really considered to be a pulse.

Research and the governments technical threat assessments have conclude that an EMP passes through you so fast, that the current cannot begin flowing in your body to cause harm.

So panic over.... It's not worth being too worried that EMP can frizzle you. Your body should be fine, with no after effects. However, it's not you that needs protecting - it's protecting your electrical and electronic systems.

Not only must you know how to purify water you must also learn how to filter it properly first.

Water must be filtered to remove waterborne cysts that can harbour and protect bacteria from chemical treatment or even boiling. The cysts can be described as micro sized seedpods that can withstand high temperatures. Filtering will remove these cysts along with pesticides, herbicides, sediment, insects and other debris.

Filtering mediums include charcoal, sand, gravel, cloth, cheesecloth and coffee filters. Layer the filtering mediums with the finer material as the bottom layer to filter out the microorganisms.

Use any food can with a hole in the bottom, plastic soda bottle or any suitable device that did not contain chemicals or other toxins. 

Boiling longer than the recommended times will cause you to lose water volume through evaporation; this can be problematic if you have a limited source.

For every 152 meters / 500 feet above sea level, water's boiling point is reduced by one degree.

Dry wash or shallow gullies can be a source of water, particularly if there is green vegetation along the sides. These washes usually have water flowing at various times. In the dryer seasons, the flow diminishes or stops completely but there can be water just below the surface.