The CHP Use of a Citizen's Band Radio

The California Highway Patrol doesn't let the fact that the citizen's band radio service -- also known as CB radio and dating back to the 1940s -- affect its decision to use it for CHP enforcement. Rather, the CHP still uses CB radio on a limited basis, generally as a complement in monitoring California's highways and responding to incidents.


Background

The Federal Communications Commission notes that anyone with a CB radio can use the service, even without a license. Forty CB channels, or frequencies, constitute the scope of the CB radio spectrum, ranging from 26.965 to 27.405 MHz. The CHP doesn't primarily rely on CB frequencies to perform its day-to-day operations. However, the CHP does equip some of its vehicles with CB radios in order to monitor commercial vehicles in particular.

CHP Frequencies

For the most part, the CHP relies on the frequency range of approximately 39 MHz to 46 MHz, well out of range of the CB frequencies. Additionally, any transmissions broadcast via the aforementioned range are re-broadcast at times over the frequency 154.905 MHz, as of July 2013. Also, the CHP relies on other frequencies to carry out a number of police duties. These frequencies are somewhat dependent on the monitoring purpose and the exact location within California. However, none of them are among the CB frequencies.

CB Use

The CHP incorporates airplanes in its highway-monitoring fleet. To help it get information on commercial traffic violators, the CHP has sometimes requested that California drivers with CB radios communicate traffic violations and accidents over a certain frequency. In this way, CHP officers in planes could locate incidents from the air and relay relevant information to ground-based CHP officers. Beyond this, ground-based officers also have tuned in to CB frequencies in order to monitor traffic.

Working with the CHP

Of course, the way the CHP operates can vary daily. So if you have a CB radio in your vehicle and you want to help with CHP traffic monitoring, contact the CHP to determine the specific CB frequency over which you should communicate. The FCC has reserved channel 9 of the CB spectrum (27.065 MHz) for communicating emergencies and for traveler assistance so, if there's any channel that the CHP would be monitoring, that would be the one. Still, the most direct way to communicate an emergency is by calling 911 from a phone.

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