Something to think about...
I'm pretty sure that channel one on frs is not an emergency channel.. There is an frs channel that is used as an emergency channel, but one is not it..
ryan,
Channel 1 is it, albeit informally. There was a campaign by Popular Communications magazine and Midland (a manufacturer of FRS radios) a number of years ago (when FRS started to take off) to declare FRS1 as an "emergency" channel of sorts (Midland 1 was the name of the program, if I recall correctly), but it fizzled.
Ch 17 on GMRS is the emergency frequency, just published in about all the manuals
chris,
If by channel 17 you are refering to 462.675, to accept the claims in all the manuals at face value is foolhardy. 462.675 (or any other GMRS frequency), FRS 1, and CB 9 (despite the claims made at
http://www.ixradio.com/article.htm ) are not true "emergency" channels. If you key down your mic and put over a distress call, there is a good chance that you will not be answered - and end users should not be mislead to believe otherwise. Channels like Marine 16, 121.500 and 243.000, are true emergency frequencies - in their limited scope of use, for marine and aviation purposes respectively. Someone is being paid to monitor those frequenies somewhere (maybe not has a primary function in the case of 121.500, but there is a radio on somewhere in a room locked on that channel...). 9-1-1 is the average citizen's "emergency channel." Being a member here makes you a bit above average...and you'll likely know that 9-1-1 does not work everywhere all the time and have taken the steps necessary to insure that should an emergency arise, you know where and know to get help.
SCANdal