IT PAYS TO BE PREPARED WITH GMRS FOR EMERGENCIES

[nokones]

While I was traveling back from a car club driving tour outing up in the San Jacinto Mountains to the Resort where my car club is holding a week long National Convention, I came upon a multi-car traffic collision with the road almost completely blocked in a blinding curve, on State Route 74, between Palm Desert and Idyllwild, and I noticed several people trying to use their cellular telephone probably trying to report the collision. I assumed they were not having any success because we were in a cellular dead zone which was several miles long.

I did not stop to check on injuries because there was no safe place to pullover since it was a narrow mountain road with essentially no shoulders. I continued on hoping to see some bars on my cell phone.

Fortunately, I had both my portable and mobile GMRS units with me and I attempted to make contact with another station that could relay the incident to the California Highway Patrol. I knew there were two repeaters in the area so I tried Coachella Valley Repeater and called out in the blind asking if any station would relay the incident to the CHP.

A station in the Salton City Area answered up and relayed the incident and came back to tell me he was successful in making contact with the CHP. I signed off and continued my drive back to La Quinta

It pays to have a GMRS Radio as an additional means of communications to report emergencies to public safety agencies. Also, it pays to be prepared and know the GMRS system in the area you are traveling in and have your radio units programmed accordingly just in case. This was the “just in case”.

[OffRoaderX]

I bet that was "Auto Repair Randy" in Salton City!  He's always monitoring that repeater.. We chat every time i go 4X4ing anywhere in the area.

[bd348]

If routinely in areas w/o cell it starts to make sense to have a satellite SOS box.

[nokones]

After rolling by the accident, there was a Call Box a few miles down the road but, it was vandalized. The call box had a yagi on top of the pole pointing down to the valley floor.