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Nearly all manufacturers will advise you to turn your radio off while its charging. If you dont, the radio is both drawing current and charging at the same time. This can shorten the life of the battery.

It is often seen that tidy-minded offices use the charging unit as a stand to store the radio when not in use. If your radio is already fully charged, keeping it in the charger could shorten its battery life. Only put the radio in the charger when it needs recharging

New batteries need a long overnight charge before you use them for the first time. This is known as initialising, and it will help you obtain the maximum battery capacity. Charge NiMH batteries for 14-16 hours, and Li-Ion batteries for an extra 1 to 2 hours after the charger light turns green.

Even with the best care, your rechargeable battery will eventually need to be replaced. Signs of this include your radio constantly beeping when turned on or transmitting, or the battery needing to be recharged at shorter and shorter intervals.

Using an old satellite dish to fashion a DIY Wi-Fi antenna is an excellent way to do this. Turning a satellite dish into a Wi-Fi antenna can be both economical and efficient, because there is no signal loss using USB cable connections as compared to coaxial cable.

If you routinely recharge a NiMH battery before its fully discharged, you could be affecting its long-term battery life. Something known as the memory effect means that charging batteries that still retain a charge will cause the battery to only partially charge. For example, if you regularly recharge a battery when it still has 50% of its charge,