Yesterday, I was stopped in my car for several hours behind a big pileup crash, and as I was stopping witnessed a car go hurtling off the road into a steep, deep ravine.

A trucker and I were able to get the driver of the car up and out of the ditch uninjured, which was good because the first responders were totally saturated for many hours and the motorist could easily have been injured or killed by the cold.

I got some good reminders out of this.

First and foremost, make sure you have not less than a quarter tank of gas at all times in the cold, with half a tank being preferred. It was really cold and windy, and we were far more comfortable inside the car with the heat on than with any of the other options available.

Second, if you do carry a radio (FRS, GMRS, MURS, ham, CB, whatever) as part of your kit, maybe carry two. I was able to hand off a radio to one of the other self-activated civilians checking up on people. Thank goodness he didn't need me, but I had medical gear and training available for those whom the first responders couldn't get to. He had appropriate outerwear and enthusiasm, which was far from nothing.

Third, when you can safely and responsibly solve your own problems and the problems of the people around you, the first responders can stay focused on the people who need them the most.

Fourth, and as always, there's a reason I picked "chaosmagnet" as my nom de plume here. I sure wouldn't have minded if yesterday had been more boring.

Good story,with worthwhile implications for us. It is always good to see citizens acting effectively in challenging situations.

As for gas tanks, I always try to keep mine at least half full (not half empty, that would be bad). In earthquake country, figure on widespread and prolonged power outages, with gas pumps inoperative. Better yet, drive a hybrid, like Mrs. Hikermor.

Glad to see you justified your handle. Jolly good show!!

Chaos, excellent. It demonstrates again that a little preparation can go a long way, not just for you, but for those around you. Most of us here do not just prepare for our own survival or sustainability.

Which type of radio do you recommend for highway travel? What type will enable contact with emergency services as well as personal 2 way comms?

I am in the same boat as far as being that guy who always seems to be around things happening. It is why I prep; experience tells me I should.

I’m a ham radio operator of decades, the radio comms lead for my CERT, and a member of a local amateur radio club primarily focused on supporting our local first responders.

Where I live and work, there’s no good way to use a two-way radio to reach first responders directly. Your best bet is to reach someone else, most often an amateur radio operator, who has telephone service available.

Some radios will reach first responders directly on their own frequencies, if programmed for that. Please don’t even think about doing that unless the situation is life or death and you don’t have another way that will work to reach help. It’s illegal because amateur handhelds are not type accepted for use on public service radio frequencies, because amateurs are not licensed to transmit on those frequencies, and because if the first responders decide to charge you with interfering with their use of the frequencies you could end up with serious criminal liability.

I recommend that if you’re serious about being ready for a communications emergency you should get an amateur radio license.

While hard to program without a cable and software and limited in output power, the Baofeng UV5R is inexpensive and very flexible in its capabilities.

Thinking more about Montanero's question, I'm not sure I answered it as well as I wanted to.

I do not believe that any state police agencies monitor CB Channel 9 any more. You might find another CB user willing to help you, but my experience with CB has not been so positive and I don't own a CB transceiver any more.

As a ham, if you can reach another ham, it's a given that they'll relay your message to first responders if they can.

For FRS and MURS, range is poor and you're unlikely to reach anyone you didn't bring with you. GMRS is better in some areas. On the water, there's a darn good chance that Marine VHF is being monitored by the Coast Guard or a local law enforcement agency. I'm not aware of any land-based radio service where this is true.

Cellphones, obviously, are the way to go if they work where you are. I'm still thinking long and hard about buying an InReach.

Excellent post by chaos, as usual: agree with getting the ham radio license, etc.
I have my general ham license and a Kenwood DH-T72A handi-talkie. I've twice left it in my vehicle on a hot day and the $50 lithium-ion battery pack that comes with the radio wouldn't power on. The heat seemed to toast the battery pack the first time, so, $50 later, I was up and running again. . .
The second time around silly me left the radio again in the vehicle on a hot day; wouldn't turn on, but finally did a day or two later.
Anyone else with similar experience with handhelds not turning on after being left in a hot car?
I'm reluctant to spend more for a second or a pair of radios, even Baofengs, if they will not be usable if the need arises on a hot summer day.
Thoughts?

A hot summer day is one thing, inside a closed car on a hot summer day is something else. If your car has a trunk, I’d recommend putting a cooler in the trunk to store stuff that needs to stay cooler than your car’s interior — what’s that get to, 160ºF ??

A car interior is certainly an excellent solar heater, but I notice that the trunk space in my conventional white sedan, totally separate from the passenger compartment, is remarkably cooler and could probbly keep a battery cool just fine, even without a cooler...

Along nearly all major highways, does one not have cellphone coverage, so that a radio is not required to summon help. Radios aren't always that dependable, for that matter.

My Baofeng LiIon batteries last for a very long time stored in the trunk (for the emergency kit radio) and in the glovebox (because why not keep a radio in the glovebox?) as long as they don’t sit discharged for long periods.

I have never owned a D72A but my original Kenwood TH-F6A battery is still going strong and often ends up in the trunk on hot days.

The cabin is probably the worst place to keep electronics on hot days, followed I’d suspect by the glovebox and then the trunk.

First car my wife and I bought when we got married we had a cell phone before they had batteries. Driving on the highway a fusible link blew and we lost all vehicle power which also prevented us from using the phone. We were close enough to an exit to walk to find a place to call AAA.

A couple summers ago we were driving through PA and heard on CB channel 19 "anyone have a cell phone I can borrow" and came around a curve in the highway and there was a truck off the side of the road. We stopped and the drivers cell phone was dead and the truck had no electric power. We let him charge his phone from my truck and use our phone to call his company to request help.

So there are times when cell phones are not dependable either and there are times where the broadcastability of radios can help as well. Don't toss the hammer because you have a screwdriver, keep both.

That points more to the competency of the driver than the dependability of cell phones.

My point though was to the radio ability to broadcast where a cell phone you have to know who your trying to call.

Two comments come to mind.

Chaosmagnet: FCC rules do permit the use of ANY frequency in a life threatening situation. I totally understand your point about using emergency frequencies as I was once an EMS dispatcher. Not to mention, most public systems today are digital using APCO or Pro-voice and encryption. My suggestion is to preface the call with "Please hold the frequency for emergency traffic" or "Mayday,Mayday,Mayday. . ." and then proceed. (just a humble suggestion from a fellow ham as well.)

Cellphones: Granted, there are a lot of areas where they are ineffective for a variety of reason. IF one could afford it, keeping a satellite phone handy, would fix much of that especially if one is in sparsely populated areas.

K0WHH

You're absolutely right, WesleyH, but if you have a working cellphone (as I did during the experience I related in the original post) you should use that over public safety radio frequencies wherever possible.

Where I was, and where I live (different places), the transition to digital radio for public safety is very slow, or hasn't begun.

I'm not in a place where it makes sense for me to buy a satellite radio. I'm still thinking about buying an InReach but I haven't done it yet.

Absolutely correct my friend.

Cell Phone is preferable to licensed emergency radio use. I was considering the situation described above wherein a cellphone did not work due to presumably being in a mountainous area. (which might also limit EMS communications as well.

The problem with sat phone is the outrageous cost, which is not an option for most people.

The only reason I shied away from InReach, is the question of response time.. I am not familiar enough with it, or those who have used it to be able to offer much input on it.

The scenario reminded me of Bruce Willis in Die Hard, where he is using a police radio (talk about taking liberties with reality! and on a terrorist radio to boot!) and the female dispatcher is telling him it is a police frequency. . .

His response. . . "$%^&*+{: Arrest ME!" Too funny.