I’ve got a CB on my motorcycle and I would like to know what kind of things I can use channel 9 for. I know it’s for emergencies but what makes for an emergency? Can I report drunk drivers that I see? What about things like downed trees?
I’ve been behind drunk drivers before and had to stop and use the cell phone which is no good. Also what should I say when I wish to use channel 9? Would I say “Break 9 for an emergency?” Since it’s bike season again I should use all my tools.
What I want to know is who is listening on the other end. Are the police listening on Ch. 9? Or is it just the public listening?
I think the police are supposed to listen but there is the problem of how far your signal will go. If your signal is not strong enough to reach them it won’t help. CB signals normally don’t go very far - ham radios go much farther and some people use them in cars.
My truck broke down one day about 10 years ago, and I tried getting a cop on Ch 9 for over an hour. Finally, one came by, not because he heard me calling, he was responding to an accident up ahead. When I asked him why I never got a response on the CB, his answer was “Don’t you have a cell phone?”
This was in Columbia, SC. YMMV
Just use Channel 19. You will end up dying if you wait for someone on 9. Several years ago I was stuck somewhere with a dead battery and got help on 19 within minutes.
To answer the OP, use 9 the same way you would use 911.
Once when I was in Florida (before everybody and his brother had a cell phone) I came along a rollover accident on I-95 near Jupiter. Traffic was extremely light. A bread delivery truck had pulled over to help but didn’t have a radio. I got on Channel 9, “Breaker 9 for any base station or emergency vehicle, I have an emergency,” and got a response right away, although I don’t know who it was. He just said, “What is the nature of your emergency?” and I described the scene and gave the location. He never responded to me, but an ambulance was there in 3-4 minutes.
However, I agree with Greekigurli that you’ll probably get more of a response on Channel 19. However, Channel 9 by FCC regulation is reserved for emergencies, so you won’t have to worry about whether you can be heard over all the truckers with power boosters.
Thanks CookingWithGas, but that still doesn’t 100% answer the question. I personally wouldn’t use 911 to call in a drunk driver but use the state police number, if I knew it. That’s why I was asking about other uses. Would I be ok calling in a drunk driver? (The reason I ask about the drivers so much is because I see a few when I’m out and I’d rather be able to tell someone what I see rather then have to stop.)
CB channel 9 is reserved for emergencies and traveller’s assistance. You can use it if you break down, need directions, witness an accident or a crime, and any other such purpose. Reporting a drunk driver is acceptable because there is an immediate risk to the public posed.
Back in the glory days of CB radio, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Channel 9 would be monitored by a group of volunteers called REACT. Each metro area would had a REACT chapter, and there would usually be someone monitoring at all hours.
What happened? The decline of CB radio in the mid-1980s meant fewer people were using channel 9 for emergencies, and fewer people monitored the channel. There was a lot of skip then, too, and the channel became cluttered with South Americans running very high power on base stations; outside of North America, channel 9 is just a normal CB channel. Skip from CBers in Caracas and Medellin drowned out short-range communications in North America.
Channel 6 also became popular among a unique subculture - a predominantly African-Americans crowd running “boom cars” transmitting at extremely high power. Four watts is the FCC/CRTC legal limit, most black market linears are limited to 100 to 250 watts, and the Channel 6 crowd broadcasts to 10,000 watts and beyond. Many in the Channel 6 crowd try to “bleed” as much as possible, having their transmissions spill onto other channels. Channel 9 was rendered useless in areas where there are a lot of folks that are part of the Channel 6 crowd.
There are still a few local REACT groups remaining, mainly in areas where CB is still popular and cellular coverage is weak; i.e. the rural Southeastern United States.