Can a radio do this?
May 14, 2011 2:43 AM Subscribe
Can a battery-powered radio turn itself on and at a higher volume?
In the middle of the night my battery powered radio came on all by itself and at a volume much higher than when I’d last listened. The volume is controlled by a dial only. I don’t scare easily, have practically lived for these annual retreats deep in the woods. This has rattled me so much, though, that I don’t want to go back unless I can find a (natural) explanation. This is not an alarm radio, just a simple, portable SONY AM/FM/Weather radio as shown here.
In the middle of the night my battery powered radio came on all by itself and at a volume much higher than when I’d last listened. The volume is controlled by a dial only. I don’t scare easily, have practically lived for these annual retreats deep in the woods. This has rattled me so much, though, that I don’t want to go back unless I can find a (natural) explanation. This is not an alarm radio, just a simple, portable SONY AM/FM/Weather radio as shown here.
This post was deleted for the following reason: at poster's request -- mathowie
According to the description in the link, the radio has a "Sleep/Radio On timer". I think Radio On is pretty much the same as an alarm in that it turns the radio on at a set time. Check if it's set to the time that the radio turned on. I'm not sure about the volume, though.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 3:04 AM on May 14, 2011
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 3:04 AM on May 14, 2011
This happened to me once. Radio came on loud when the station signed on the airat 5:30 in the morning. Wasn't on the night before. Didn't have a function like that mentioned above.
I have no explanation.
posted by vitabellosi at 3:25 AM on May 14, 2011
I have no explanation.
posted by vitabellosi at 3:25 AM on May 14, 2011
I bought my grandma that same portable radio a few years ago. After two months, she gave it back to us claiming that it kept turning on in the middle of the night. Naturally, I assumed that senile ol' grandma was just hitting 'snooze' instead of power.
I took it to my apartment and, lo and behold, that particular sony model will turn on without warning and scare the shit out of you. It happened to my grandmother. It happened to me. And now, my friend, it has happened to you.
I think it has something to do with it's 'weather' feature, wherein it will automatically activate and turn to whatever channel you have set for weather when it detects that there is severe activity happening somewhere in the world. I couldn't figure it out, so I just took out the batteries; now it's in storage, gutted and silent.
posted by Think_Long at 3:34 AM on May 14, 2011
I took it to my apartment and, lo and behold, that particular sony model will turn on without warning and scare the shit out of you. It happened to my grandmother. It happened to me. And now, my friend, it has happened to you.
I think it has something to do with it's 'weather' feature, wherein it will automatically activate and turn to whatever channel you have set for weather when it detects that there is severe activity happening somewhere in the world. I couldn't figure it out, so I just took out the batteries; now it's in storage, gutted and silent.
posted by Think_Long at 3:34 AM on May 14, 2011
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'Cause the best I can come up with is battery corrosion shorting something. But, if the switch worked, then I don't reckon that corrosion is the likely culprit.
posted by Netzapper at 2:48 AM on May 14, 2011