they can, with the 9-hour notice, convert you to a 2-hr "B" reserve with no extra pay twice in a month wthout paying you anything extra. this is essentially half of your month since reserve lines are usually built with 4 sets of days on duty. there goes your ability to sit in DFW or AUS on reserve for half of the month.

average reserve usage varies wildly. EWR reserves seem to fly their hinders off; IAH reserves may get to sit.

i was a IAH 737 CA reserve all summer and had to beg to fly. i flew about 40 hours in a busy month. the EWR guys on both the 737 and 757/767 had days off rolled constantly and flew 80 hours plus most months and worked virtually every reserve day.

but EWR definitely has far better trips than houston, more variety, more destinations, and possibly better commutability.