Is CH-9 on CB radio still used for emergences?

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In some areas it is monitored by local or state police and/or REACT members.

AND YES, I can tell you from personal experience it is definitly still used for emergencies.
 

W9NES

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Yes Channel 9 on the cb radio is still monitored by me and others.As a former Indiana State Capitol Police Officer,A Ham Radio Operator W9NES and Chief of Search and Rescue for Northwest Emergency Services Inc Volunteer SAR Team I monitor CB Channel 9 in my Emergency Responce Unit(ERU) when I am on the road going to work or going other places.I also carry numerious radios for Ham Communications on 2meters, 440, along with VHF and UHF commications direct with numerious emergency services including towing services,GMRS, etc along with carrying a cell phone.Channel 9 is "Not dead" becuase of cell phones.I monitor becuase some people cannot afford cell phones and for those of us who care about the community we should monitor channel 9 as much as possible to"assist others who are in need of help"
 
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Yes Channel 9 on the cb radio is still monitored by me and others.As a former Indiana State Capitol Police Officer,A Ham Radio Operator W9NES and Chief of Search and Rescue for Northwest Emergency Services Inc Volunteer SAR Team I monitor CB Channel 9 in my Emergency Responce Unit(ERU) when I am on the road going to work or going other places.I also carry numerious radios for Ham Communications on 2meters, 440, along with VHF and UHF commications direct with numerious emergency services including towing services,GMRS, etc along with carrying a cell phone.Channel 9 is "Not dead" becuase of cell phones.I monitor becuase some people cannot afford cell phones and for those of us who care about the community we should monitor channel 9 as much as possible to"assist others who are in need of help"

AMEN !!! And keep up the good work.
 

trace1

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While CB may still be used and Channel #9 is still monitored by some in some areas, it seems to be rather quite, unused, and useless in the area that I'm in.

The only traffic I've ever heard is from a grocery distribution center in close vicinity that uses Ch. # 8 & 10 to communicate and direct the drivers around the property as to which door/dock to go to, etc.
 

Raven95150

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Channel 9 is not only for true emergencies but can also be used for "traveler assistance" which could include things like giving someone directions, although I've never heard it being used for that. I don't think I've ever heard anyone talking on channel 9. If you did need assistance, in most cases you would probably have a much better chance of getting in contact with someone on channel 19 and then you could move that conversation to channel 9 where it would be less likely to get interrupted.
 

tommyscan

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My experience is not good with ch9. i used to be an advid cb-er but with all the GARBAGE talk and dead keys,its ruined that portion of the radio hobby for me. All I hear is Mexican skip,noise and cursing. I used to talk sideband on channel 37 for about 6 years and that stopped when the skip died down and am talkers dead keyed or played music over the air to interrupt your Q-seL. i STILL VALUE THE NEED FOR THE RADIO BUT wish the fcc would crack down on the garbage or go back to licensing/fees to discourage the hammer-heads.
 

elk2370bruce

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Due to many years of mis-use and outright abuse, none of our PD's will have anything to do with channel 9 (or any of the other channels). As usual, the few have ruined the resource for the majority.
 

W9NES

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Then I guess you do not consider public safety a issue? Channel 9 is a valueable resource and insted of compaining about the non use of Ch 9 why do you not start to monitor on your own and help somebody.You never know who may need help It could be your neighboor next door broke down in a car needing gas.He could be having a Heart Attack, seach for a missing child who has altisim .People standed on a Interstate Highway in Indianapolis,Indiana dring the Blizzard of 1978 in which I did from a home cb base station along the Interstate in question.I was behind getting these people rescued from the Interstate and into shelter until the blizzard cleared and the Interstate was re-opened.I was thanked by my local Township Fire Department(Pike Township) who had a cb base station along with The Indiana State Police Dist 52 in Indianapolis for assisting them in the rescue.Now you see the reason why others should monitor and help "Save lives so others can live".It is called assisting the community but I guess people have forgot about that!!! This is what I have been doing for the past 43 Years Of my life and will continue to do so when others are giving up!
 

JoeyC

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That is all well and good and honorable of you to dedicate your time to this task, but in reality, how many emergency calls on CB channel 9 have you handled in the last year? Just about everyone has a cellphone, and for those that don't, I don't see them buying a CB radio as an alternative for emergency purposes. This is 2008, not 1978. But I could be wrong...
 

w0fg

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The use of CB as a really useful tool for emergency communications peaked about 1976 and has steadily declined since then. In this area the only legitimate CB use is by the truckers for docking information at their terminals. In 20 years as a CB dealer (until 2006) I did not have a customer who I knew to monitor Channel 9. Today, you might be able to make a contact on Ch 19, but it would be 'iffy' even there. This is not a knock on CB per se; you could say the same thing about most of the 2-meter amateur repeaters. Twenty or thirty years ago you had a reasonable chance of getting assistance with a 'Mayday' call on 2M, but today your chances are just a bit better than they would be on CB. Like it or not, cellphones have become the default choice and anyone who is depending on either CB or amateur radio to call for a tow, or to report an accident, is kidding himself. For hobby use, wonderful; as a last-resort or backup, maybe; but as a primary communications system either would be a poor choice in many, if not most, parts of the country.
 

elk2370bruce

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Then I guess you do not consider public safety a issue (Channel 9 is a valueable resource and insted of compaining about the non use of Ch 9 why do you not start to monitor on your own and help somebody.You never know who may need help It could be your neighboor next door broke down in a car needing gas.He could be having a Heart Attack, seach for a missing child who has altisim .People standed on a Interstate Highway in Indianapolis,Indiana dring the Blizzard of 1978 in which I did from a home cb base station along the Interstate in question.I was behind getting these people rescued from the Interstate and into shelter until the blizzard cleared and the Interstate was re-opened.I was thanked by my local Township Fire Department(Pike Township) who had a cb base station along with The Indiana State Police Dist 52 in Indianapolis for assisting them in the rescue.Now you see the reason why others should monitor and help "Save lives so others can live".It is called assisting the community but I guess people have forgot about that!!! This is what I have been doing for the past 43 Years Of my life and will continue to do so when others are giving up!

You're not the only person here with a long career in emergency services. I will assume (perhaps incorrectly) that your efforts are affiliated with or sponsored by a law enforcement agency and that your response vehicle is an official one. Many around RR.com have 40+ years of active professional service as well and are entitled to retain some small degree of pride in what we've accomplished in our chosen career. Sorry that we don't live up to your standards and expectations. We all know the slogans so get off the soap box that you've set up for yourself. The sad fact remains that, in some areas of our great nation, CB has been mis-used and abused by kids, kooks, trucker wanna-be's, guys with phoney Dodge Boy Sheriff accents, and other miscreants for many years rendering it useless as a credible, reliable information source. With the volume of radio traffic coming through our dispatch points, CB9 is a resource that is no longer monitored because there is nothing but noise and kiddy giggles. Department dispatch points dropped CB years ago because there were no longer any legimate channel 9 emergency requests. Cell phones, on-star and even amateur radio club operators have proven to be a more reliable tool for us. If CB works for your jurisdiction, GREAT. It just doesn't for OUR response environment covering about 800,000 people spread over 25 municipalities, interstates, urban highways, and other high traffic routes. Are you alone in setting the operational standards for all communities and assuming the lead role for the protection of our jurisdictions as well? If so, I guess the rest of us old veteran responders can retire happy and can sleep well at night with you protecting all of US; who, based on your comments above, have forgotten about performing our own professional responsibilty. Thanks for reminding us all of our failure and inadequacy from your exalted position on Mount Olympus. I will now return to the donut shop and await your empassioned, hopefully cogent reply.
 
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Guys, lets not get into an argument over this. CB9 works in some areas and not in others, same with ham.

Should it be your primary means of emergency communication?

No, a cell phone is the best and most direct means of getting help BUT in certein situations celluler networks may be overloaded, down or you may not be in range of them. In those cases a ham or CB radio WOULD be your next best chance of getting help. But for most people those situations are few and far between.

Does this mean you should not get a CB or other radio for emergencies?

No, having some sort of backup communications system is still a good idea and monitoring these bands are a good idea also. You may not hear any calls but you may also be the one chance a person has for help.Monitoring CB9 or any other frequency is your choice and don't let anybody tell you that "that will never happen" and therefore you should not bother.

To monitor or not to monitor is your choice and you can do it any way you like, you can do it only during severe weather, emergencies and disasters, whenever you feel like, set up a seperate base and monitor all the time or none at all.but there's no reason to fight about it.

Bluegrass out! (SCREW SEACREST)
 

SAR923

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Yes Channel 9 on the cb radio is still monitored by me and others.As a former Indiana State Capitol Police Officer,A Ham Radio Operator W9NES and Chief of Search and Rescue for Northwest Emergency Services Inc Volunteer SAR Team I monitor CB Channel 9 in my Emergency Responce Unit(ERU) ....

Can you give me a link to Northwest Emergency Service Inc unit you belong to? A google search turns up nothing. What exactly is this "ERU" you drive around? How many emergencies do you respond to in an average year and is this an Indiana state authorized emergency vehicle? I was the Overhead Team Leader from my county sheriff's department in California for 27 years. No knock on you but we always had "SAR" groups that formed to try and help the community. Most of the time they were whackers and police wannabes that got in our way and never helped anyone. It's very hard for me to imagine the area around Indianapolis being a hotbed of SAR callouts, or at least as I understand SAR.

Channel 9, at least in California, is not only useless, it's dangerous. We had a lost couple in a 4WD in a snowstorm is the mountains who actually managed to contact someone of channel 9. There as no cell phone coverage where they were stranded. We were able to make contact with them on channel 9 and, while trying to determine where this lost couple and infant were located, we had a couple of idiots who would come on with their footwarmers and cover all our traffic with a string of obscenities. We read them the standard FCC warning about interfering with an emergency operation and it did no good. We had the couple switch to different channels and the nitwits followed us. We finally got enough information between all the interference and cursing that our helicopter was able to locate them. We had a few people out DF'ing them and managed to locate one house just by the massive size of the tower and beam. Of course, we filed a complaint with the FCC but our DA wouldn't indict on a state charge since it was a federal case. Never did hear anything from the FCC about enforcement but did hear that his tower collapsed several weeks later, apparently due to faulty guy wires. Sometimes things like that just happen, I guess. :)
 
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