Decide what you need to communicate

A battery radio can tell you what a broadcaster is reporting. It cannot tell your partner you are safe. A pair of walkie-talkies can connect two people within range, but cannot guarantee contact with the emergency services. Begin by writing the actual jobs your household needs to do during a disruption.

For a typical household, those jobs might be receiving public information, checking on a nearby relative and agreeing where to meet if phones fail. Solve each one separately. A drawer of radios is of little value when nobody else knows which device to use or when to listen.

Make broadcast reception work at home

Use an ordinary radio that receives the stations available in your area and works without mains electricity. Try it in the room where you are likely to spend an outage. Tune in a local service and a second useful news source, then write down the station names and how to select them.

FM and DAB reception vary by location and building. Check your own reception before deciding that a particular band is essential. A phone app that streams radio requires a data connection; it does not provide the same independence as a separate broadcast receiver.

Test the volume, display and controls with everyone who may need to use it. Keep the right batteries or charging lead with it, and follow the manufacturer's storage instructions. If a radio includes solar or hand-crank charging, establish how much listening time you actually obtain. Do not build a plan around an untested charging claim.

Keep a notebook for official advice, the broadcaster and the time heard. During a changing incident, an accurate message from two hours ago may already be out of date. See the UK emergency radio guide for choosing broadcast information sources.

Understand receiving and transmitting

Ofcom's radio rules distinguish general reception from transmission and unauthorised interception. Listening to public broadcasts is straightforward. Owning a scanner does not give permission to deliberately intercept private communications or disclose messages you were not authorised to receive.

Transmitting requires either a suitable licence or compliance with a licence exemption. A power cut does not create blanket permission to transmit on any frequency. Avoid advice that tells beginners to programme emergency-service channels or treats an "emergency frequency" as an open public calling service.

Ofcom lists licence-exempt radio categories, including PMR446 and compliant CB use. Each has conditions. Imported equipment described as licence-free may follow another country's rules.

Use PMR446 for a modest, tested job

Compliant PMR446 handsets can be useful for short local conversations. Ofcom's PMR446 information sheet makes an important distinction: the exemption applies to equipment and use meeting its requirements, rather than to any transmitter tuned into that band. Programming a general-purpose radio to a PMR446 frequency does not make it compliant.

Choose equipment explicitly suitable for UK PMR446 use. Practise in the actual locations involved, such as between two homes or across a campsite. Hills, walls and distance can prevent communication. Do not assume the longest range printed on a box describes a built-up street.

Agree the channel and any tone settings, a time to check in, and what happens if no reply arrives. Tone settings often marketed as privacy codes do not make the conversation confidential. Keep addresses, access codes and sensitive personal details off shared radio channels.

Take turns, listen before transmitting, speak briefly and confirm important details. Use an ordinary message in practice, such as an agreed meeting place and time, so everyone learns the controls without pretending there is a real emergency.

Learn amateur radio if it interests you

Amateur radio is a technical hobby with its own qualifications, licensing and operating conditions. Start with Ofcom's amateur radio information and a local club if you want to learn. Passing an examination and obtaining the appropriate licence is a different commitment from buying a household receiver.

Whatever equipment you choose, write down a fallback that needs no signal: where household members should go, who can collect a child under existing arrangements, and how long to wait before changing plans. Keep a charged phone for emergency calls. A missed radio check-in alone does not establish that somebody is in danger; your agreed fallback should account for simple equipment failure.

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