Last Channel 9 real emergency

[secret squirrel]

I bump this topic every once in a while. Out of curiosity. When was the last time anyone heard any emergency traffic other than news from TJ on Channel 9. It was early 90’s when Brooke County WV still had signs posted that said “Sheriff’s Office monitors CB Channel 9 for emergencies.” Our first outer space alien contact officially may be on Channel 9. And some taxi driver from Mexico will answer.

 

[guitar_199]

Once upon a time....... one could key up on CH9 and ask for a REACT monitor (at least in my area!) and have a reasonable chance of getting an answer FROM REACT or even just somebody who kept a radio on 9 when they weren't doing anything else.

These days???????? I don't think there is a chance that anyone would listen. One starts to think that... even the FCC rule to set Ch9 aside for emergency traffic makes no sense. Nobody will hear it anyway.

 

[sp5it]

Dead since a long time.

 

[AudioShockwav]

When I was young there were several ops around town that were actively involved in REACT.
It's not a good spot in the HF spectrum for reliable emergency coms because of solar cycles.

73
Jeff

 

[BC Coyote]

I was involved in REACT up here in Canada in the 80's and 90's. The last year I monitored 9 was 1997. Our local REACT chapter was down to 2 people by that point and dissolved. Last real emergency I remember hearing would have been a couple years before that....

By the early 2000's AM CB was totally dead in British Columbia and all the truckers had moved to LADD1 on VHF.
As others have said, 9 is one of several Mexican superbowls now....... Though the REAL Mexican Superbowl is 26.585 AM ! That's a wild channel !

 

[secret squirrel]

It's a shame what they did to Colt Seavers and the Fall Guy. I remember the opening episode on TV when he requested and ambulance with a CB. The truck had the big Shakespeare whip folded over.

 

[nomadradio]

In the late 70s the local city police had a setup they called "E.A.R.S." Can't remember the four words of the backronym. It installed a CB base and antenna on each district police station. A CB was mandatory in county-police patrol cars. The Antenna Specialists M-125 was the standard trunk-mount CB antenna. Went by the wayside in the 1990s. A sign at every interstate entry ramp reminded you they were listening on channel 9.

As if.

Now channel 9 is the local channel south of the border. It's the one channel that isn't cluttered up with english-speaking "nortes" when the skip is running.

73

 

[Wire Weasel]

Not only is 9 dead but almost all the other ones in my area are too. And I'm out in the country ..... prime CB territory. Sad to see it failing like this. We had a robust group talking through the 2010's but especially since 2020 the operators are dropping like flies. Older guys dying. People just quitting due to reduced traffic which is a snowball effect. A few went Ham. I'm in a hole in a creek valley and it takes an amp to talk to the 3 or 4 peeps out there that I can even reach. Sad

 

[Hurricane145]

Local article about REACT closing down in 2004

https://www.seattlepi.com/seattlenews/article/a-dying-breed-cb-radio-group-signs-off-1135972.php

The Seattle P.I. newspaper closed down years ago too!

 

[GlocknSpiel]

My father was heavily-involved in REACT when I was a little sprout. At age 10 ~13, I used to 'man' Dad's base station in Hialeah, FL with the beam pointed WNW on weekends, while he patrolled RT#27 from Hialeah out to "Yehaw Junction", or "20-Mile Bend", (depending upon radio conditions).
I had to call FHP, and cabs, or towing companies sometimes. I dispatched on a fatal wreck once.... At age10. I got a plaque for that one from the FHP, along with an honorary "membership" and a cool bicycle from REACT.
I hate to see it go, but such a service is totally redundant today.

 

[nomadradio]

Video killed the radio star.

Cell phone killed channel 9.

73

 

[guitar_199]

Video killed the radio star.

Cell phone killed channel 9.

73

i REALLY think that THIS is s true statement.

The cell phone "gets around" the chance where somebody might not be listening at the time you need help.

 

[1iwilly]

channel 9 has become the local Spanish channel for PR and beyond they are using it as their Super Bowl channels base station key downs just about everytime there is skip

 

[BC Coyote]

Channel 9's usefulness for emergencies ended in the 1990's. That was over 30 years ago now. Time to move on.
Channel 9 will never be an emergency channel again, and is now defacto one of several Latin American superbowl channels.

 

[Tucker442]

I bump this topic every once in a while. Out of curiosity. When was the last time anyone heard any emergency traffic other than news from TJ on Channel 9. It was early 90’s when Brooke County WV still had signs posted that said “Sheriff’s Office monitors CB Channel 9 for emergencies.” Our first outer space alien contact officially may be on Channel 9. And some taxi driver from Mexico will answer.

When I was in the Air Force, the Delaware State police used to monitor channel 9