"andrei" wrote in message
om...
Hi,

I have a Motorola FRS (I am very happy with it) but it would not be
what I want in case of emergencies: I would need something which the
police would monitor so I could call for rescue if needed

Good luck. There may, or may not be someone listening to channel 9.
Since it's usually quite busy with non-emergency traffic (at least around
here) it's most likely that nobody's listening that would be useful to you.
For example, our county EOC has a CB set, it's been powered up in tests a
few times in the last few years, but nobody listens to it routinely.

Our police don't monitor CB at all. Highway patrol MAY monitor, but I
wouldn't bet on it.

I would need something which would, for example, make it possible for me
to
ask for the road conditions ahead, or simply monitor the channels used
by trucks and other to be aware of what is going on. The situation I
am most concerned about would be a massive evacuation of the Florida
coast in preparation for a hurricane.

You might come by road info on channel 19, but that info may or may not be
reliable.
I've heard bad and deliberately misleading info passed from time to time.
I put one in the car on long trips just for that reason.

Even the NOAA hurricane evacuation kit suggest the purchase of a
handheld & battery operated radio!

They are talking about AM/FM receivers, for official information broadcasts.

I would think that a few weatherproof FRS radios, with a good block of spare
batteries would serve well.

A long range radio, with just a few channels, is going to find very
congested conditions.
A short range radio, with fewer channels, is likely to be very usable.