A Brief History of REACT in Huntsville

We are excited to bring REACT back to the Rocket City, but it is really a reincarnation of an earlier team that successfully served this area for several decades.

Beginning in 1962, REACT as a national organization was formed to monitor emergency CB channel 9 and perform other services for the community. Shortly after REACT formed, Huntsville REACT Team C122 was created and became one of several hundred "charter" teams that formed around the nation in the early days. Things really took off in the 1970s as CB radio, once mostly limited to trucking use, became a mainstream form of communication for people everywhere, especially when traveling. Prior to the introduction of cellular technology, CB radio was the way people kept track of traffic problems, weather conditions, called for emergency assistance, got directions, reported accidents, and just chatted anonymously with fellow travelers along their drive. REACT filled a critical need by providing volunteers, typically using a base station at home, to monitor channel 9 for emergency calls and reporting them to local emergency responders. Huntsville REACT responded to their fair share of calls over the years, including reports of accidents, reckless drivers, stalled vehicles, fires, vandalism, and requests for directions around the city. I joined this team as a teen with my father in 1978 and was proud to offer assistance to both city residents and travelers visiting Huntsville. Each team member signed up for 2-hour shifts on a set weekly schedule to cover as much of the week as possible. Most took multiple shifts throughout the week.

Team meetings were held in a small room at the rescue squad station on Cook Avenue every month. Meetings were usually well attended, and if I ever get lung cancer it will be from the second-hand smoke that permeated that room like a thick fog from call to order through adjournment. 😆 Team business was discussed along with notable calls that we received while monitoring channel 9.

Many REACT teams put on "coffee breaks" along the interstate to give tired travelers a chance to stop and get a free cup of coffee. Our team was not close enough to the nearest interstate to make that activity feasible, but we did have an annual Halloween event known as "spook patrol" where a few team members would remain at home to monitor channel 9 and the rest would take to the streets and cruise our neighborhoods to keep watch on trick-or-treaters to help ensure safety. This was a fun activity that I'm happy to bring back with the creation of our new team.

Activity on channel 9 slowly declined during the 1980s as CB use steadily dwindled through the decade. During this time, Huntsville REACT branched out to GMRS and used a repeater for team activities and on-the-air meetings while continuing to monitor CB channel 9. Once cellular technology became affordable for the masses, CB was mostly forgotten except by hobbyists and niche users. By the early 1990s, Huntsville REACT membership shrank to just a few people and eventually dissolved.

That was then, this is now. So did CB ever really go away? Many people ask that question and the answer is no, although it's certainly not in the mainstream as it once was. CB remains useful for off-roaders, truck drivers, farms, and even some motorists. Radios are still manufactured by several companies like Uniden, Cobra, Midland, Galaxy, President, and sold in some local stores and even big online retailers like Amazon, so demand is still there. The FCC has even upgraded the CB radio service in recent years by introducing FM as a mode of communication in addition to AM and SSB (Single Side Band) that have always been available. This makes CB virtually identical to amateur radio 10 meters, with the exception of the low power restriction for CB. But the usage model has completely changed and the need to monitor channel 9 has mostly abated.

A trend has emerged in recent years with a focus on emergency preparedness and response given the increase in severe weather events and previously unheard of disasters like terrorist attacks. FEMA provides guidelines for individuals and organizations to help prepare for and respond to such events, and many volunteer organizations are rising to the call. This is where Rocket City REACT fits in. In addition to assisting with fun, non-profit events around our area, our goal is to foster alternate forms of communication for situations when the mainstream methods falter or fail altogether. We want to focus on GMRS and FRS since those radio services are very accessible to every person and require no tests. To a lesser extent, we will continue to support CB since we still have users in our area. When the power goes out and cell towers shut down (as they did after the April 2011 tornadoes), we want residents of Madison County to have a way to find out what's happening and still feel connected.