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I'm with you on this. REACT peaked in the 80's, and overall, faded away as other methods of communications rose, especially cell phones. It's hard to be "the safety patrol" when everyone has direct contact with 911 now via cellphone. The other issue is outright wackerism. Sorry, guys, but it is the sad fact that all too often, REACT people played wannabee cops instead of sticking to their primary mission. That turned LE off on them long ago. I was a career 911 dispatcher and supervisor from 1976 to 2003, and the dozen or so police agencies that my dispatch center handled wanted nothing to do with REACT based on prior experiences. The rise of the ARES/RACES ham groups pretty much replaced whatever REACT tried to be, but their services are much more aimed at supplemental communications during major incidents and specific events. Our ham club has a room inside the county's EOC. The other valuable service that the club provides is short term event communications for things like 5K races and other community events. They do it well and they stick to their mission. At events like these, there's usually a LE unit close by the command post or one of the other stations. There's just no need for direct communications with 911 in these circumstances. I did some FCC searching and found only 5 current GMRS licenses in our whole county of 56,000 people. I haven't counted amateur licenses, but there's easily 10 to 20 times that number here. Whenever I travel throughout the Adirondacks, I have a radio scanning all the GMRS only channels. Traffic is almost non-existant up here.

The North Shore Emergency Association (NSEA*) has been doing such since it was founded in 1966. At first, it was via CB radio. Around 1989 everything was switched to GMRS. We now have three repeaters in operation, and have one than can be set up mobile if necessary for any special event. We assign one person as liaison with the police, and filter all reports through that individual. For parade events, we mostly provide communications via liaison personnel assigned to shadow the various parade marshals to keep things coordinated. * http://www.nsea.com/

The chief problem with REACT is that they seem to be somewhat moribund these days. For example, the two closest REACT teams to me according to their Locator are DEAD. I've tried numerous times to contact the closest here in Hammond, IN listed, and both the email address and phone number are no longer working. As for the next closest I checked just now, their website is "Frozen" and there is no response from the email address.

Good point. Let me also just place a comprehensive Part 90 line item here for consideration... 47CFR90.407: Emergency Communications > The licensee of any station authorized under this part may, during a period of emergency in which the normal communication facilities are disrupted as a result of hurricane, flood, earthquake or similar disaster, utilize such station for emergency communications in a manner other than that specified in the station authorization or in the rules and regulations governing the operation of such stations. The Commission may at any time order the discontinuance of such special use of the authorized facilities. Now, let's look at the Part 95 line item that is worded in much less specific detail > 47CFR95.114: Managing a GMRS system in an emergency > (a ) The stations in a GMRS system must cease transmitting when the station operator of any station on the same channel is communicating an emergency message (concerning the immediate protection of property or the safety of someone's life). (b ) If necessary to communicate an emergency message from a station in a GMRS system, the licensee may permit: (1 ) Anyone to be the station operator (see §95.179); and (2 ) The station operator to communicate the emergency message to any radio station. _____________________________________________________________________ Has anyone ever received a ruling from the Commission regarding section (2 ) above and the words "any radio station" ?

What we need is some international organization of volunteers that is already recognized for using citizen communications, like CB, GMRS, and Ham radio to assist with official communications when needed. Oh wait, there IS one... http://www.reactintl.org/ Mission Statement We will provide public safety communications to individuals, organizations, and government agencies to save lives, prevent injuries, and give assistance wherever and whenever needed. We will strive to establish a monitoring network of trained volunteer citizen-based communicators using any and all available means to deliver the message.

In my area we had an issue with a major chain Hotel using 462.725 (one of our repeater pairs) for their business comms on commercial radios. After we researched and verified that there was no possibility of them having an ancient license for Non-Individual on GMRS, I politely contacted them on their frequency in an attempt to explain the situation. The Manager got on the radio telling me she was going to "Call the Cops" because I was not allowed to use their "channel". So I stopped at the hotel and again, politely, attempted to show them the FCC regulations and offer them a solution when the manager freaked out and called the police. Because I was on their property I simply left shaking my head. Needless to say I made sure they got a letter from our northwest FCC Representative Binh Mtuyem out of the Portland, Oregon area. We've had a few other businesses pop up on GMRS and most are polite and will move to FRS once it's politely explained to them, but there are still geniuses at gas stations and hotels that love to wander into GMRS then cuss and threaten anyone who tries to help them follow the law. Oh well! On a trip through Sisters, Oregon we had a Hotel/Resort employee on a MURS frequency we were using for travel comms tell us they "Owned" this channel and we needed to immediately get off of "his" channel or he was going to call the "FBI". That was a fun conversation! LOL

I guess to each his own, as long as one is responsible and knows they cannot transmit without a license (unless it is a dire emergency where life is in danger) I'd say it's not a big deal. I have had HAM in my radio in the past, but I always had them set for RX only. Now on the other hand....shame shame shame on the (presumed) Hams around Cinncinati Ohio last weekend that were on a repeater using 4 letter call signs (WQWY, W5JZ) and Ham lingo. If they have a GMRS license, that's fine, but they should NOT be using their HAM calls on a GMRS freq....regardless. If I went on their HAM repeater and used my GMRS Call sign...they would send out a lynch mob and call their senator crying about their rights!