Metro Atlanta amateur radio operators practice emergency communications

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – For one weekend each year, amateur radio operators across the US and Canada practice emergency communications — including those in metro Atlanta.

On Sunday, members of the Alford Memorial Radio Club gathered in Doraville’s Pleasantdale Park to participate in the American Radio Relay League Field Day. During this weekend, more than 35,000 operators across the US and Canada go to remote locations and try to contact as many people as possible, practicing for a crisis.

Barry Kanne, one of the club’s members, said the organization joined with DeKalb County’s Emergency Management Agency (EMA) to access the park and coordinate with official emergency operators.

“It gives us a chance to practice our emergency skills and work in concert with the EMA to actually give us the capability of exercising with them,” he said. “Because in the event of a real emergency, that’s who we’re going to be working with, and that way we can be doing something which applies to real life for us.”

Now 84, Kanne said he’s been using ham radio, or amateur radio, since he was 13. Some ham radio operators use the airwaves to talk to strangers across the world. Others experiment with new technologies. And through the Amateur Radio Emergency Services program, some volunteers help thousands of state and local emergency responsive agencies for free.

More than 750,000 people have amateur radio licenses in the US, including 18,000 in Georgia. The Alford Memorial Radio Club helps people learn about ham radio communications and provides community service.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Kanne said.

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