gthh wrote:

electricity is cheap in most places and 2) The initial cost of a good
efficient charger outweights the overall benefit when compared to how many
packets of cheap batteries the $100 would buy.

Even with a lousy charger, the economy is there to recharge batteries.
Assuming a really bad charger uses 10 watts of electricity to charge a
2700mAH NiMH battery (2/3s "overhead") that's still nothing in cost.

The average price of electricity in the U.S. is less than 10 cents a
kWH, To simplify things, I'll calculate it in one hour, but it comes
out the same, ONE TENTH OF ONE CENT A CHARGE.

One small island in the Pacific did exactly that. They bought a bunch of
NiMH rechargable AA batteries and charge them in a central location.

If your figure the batteries cost $1 each in bulk and can be recharged
once a day for a year, the ecological and financial cost is minimal.
Since everyone brings their batteries back for recharging, you don't
even have a collection problem for the bad ones.

Sounds like a good business for a microenterpreneur.

Plus look at it this way, a crank-up radio will likely strengthen the
masturbation wrist :-)

On the other hand, having a radio that requires electricity and can be shared
encourages social activity, which helps you find someone else to do that
for you.

Think of it this way. If you go around knocking on doors looking for a place
to plug in your radio, you might just find a place to plug something else
into........... :-)

Even better, spend the time and effort to get a Ham license. There is
a thriving VHF community in the U.K. You don't need a very advanced
license, you don't need to learn morse code, you just need a handheld
radio and some manners (and a license) and you can meet all sorts of
people with all sorts of interests.

Even if the people you talk to on the radio are all married men in their
50's :-) they have friends, families and co-workers to introduce you
to.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM
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