These days CB is used only by truckers and a few other road warriors, farmers and die hard CB fans. You won’t find CB radios in most modern cars and pickups but almost every trucker on the road has one tuned to channel 19.

Most people expect to use their cell phone in the event of an emergency. The sad fact is that there are literally thousands of miles of roadway in the United States where cell phones are useless. Because of terrain or population density cell phone towers will never provide 100% coverage of the United States or Canada.

Unfortunately since systems like Onstar rely on cell phone towers they cannot be relied on in many rural areas.

If you are stranded on the side of the road an emergency CB radio can be removed from your trunk, plugged in to the cigarette lighter and operating in less than a couple of minutes. After tuning an emergency CB radio to channel 19 one can often summon the help of a trucker as they pass by. Emergency CB radios do not typically have a great range but can transmit a call for help up to a couple of miles. This is enough to communicate with passing trucks.

In some areas of the country channel 9 is still monitored by emergency personnel or volunteers who work with REACT or the Radio Emergency Associated Communications Teams. In the event of an emergency you should first try channel 9 and if you cannot make contact there, switch to channel 19 and try to contact a truck driver.

Emergency CB radios sell for less than $100 and there is no fee to use the service. In these tough times many are revisiting this old technology as they are forced to give up cell phone subscriptions. No FCC license is needed to operate a CB radio and most models come with complete instructions on how to make a call and listen for a response.

Most emergency CB radios feature a magnetic mount antenna and a transmit power of four watts, which is the legal power limit. In addition to emergency use, a pair of compact CB radios can be used for car to car communications.

Before winter driving season arrives, consider adding an inexpensive portable emergency CB radio to the emergency kit in your trunk.

Popular makers of emergency CB radios are Cobra, Midland, Uniden and Realistic.

For more on how to use a CB radio see: CB Radio, Not Just For Truckers