Ham radio field day turns into real life training

The Mississippi Coast Amateur Radio Association scheduled a field day for this weekend in Gulfport.  And the Jackson County Amateur Radio association had its exercise in Gautier.  The idea was for ham radio operators to set up radio stations in unusual locations, and make contact with others to practice their emergency communication capabilities.

During the middle of the training, the National Hurricane Center issued a tropical storm warning for the coastal waters of Mississippi, and for large chunk of Louisiana.  Suddenly, the ham radio field day has a lot more significance.

"The hams provide emergency communications for many government and civic organizations in disasters," public information officer Harry Samuelson said.  Just in the last few months, ham radio operators have played critical roles reaching out to people trapped by wildfires, floods, storms, tornados and other crises. 

Both amateur radio associations will wrap up their field day training exercises Sunday morning.

Article posted from www.WLOX.com