The Pearl River County Amateur Radio Club held an annual training event last weekend at the Pearl River County Emergency Operations Center in Poplarville.

The training session lasted more than 24 continuous hours. The radio club hosts this annual event as a way to make national contacts and simulate less than ideal situations, said Shawn Wise, the county coordinator for the Amateur Radio Emergency Service.

Wise works to manage radio volunteers and keep them trained to help the EOC in times of need.

Vern Mitchell and Earl French, two members of the Pearl River County Amateur Radio Club, spearheaded the event, setting up at 6 a.m. Saturday, said Wise.

The event lasted until 5 p.m. on Sunday.

“We were practicing long-range communications,” said French, who has been working with amateur radios for about a year.

The training event is designed to prepare amateur radio operators for disasters that would prevent them from having access to typical equipment such as phone lines or generators, said Wise.

The group ran through exercises to prepare for emergency broadcasts when cellphone towers or electricity services are interrupted, said French.

Radio operators spoke with other amateur operators from the U.S. and Canada until the band became too full of static. They then switched to a different frequency and continued communication with a different station. While broadcasting, operators were simultaneously sending emails via radio as a means to send reports to those in their address books, said Wise.

“A lot of people don’t realize that we can send emails, pictures, or videos all over radio,” said Wise. “It’s a lot more advanced than a walkie-talkie.”

The event was held at the EOC in Poplarville and utilized their emergency equipment, said Wise.

“The county and the state have their systems in place, but they rely on infrastructure. The amateur community can bring their own if they have to,” said Wise. “They can take a piece of wire and throw it up in a tree and talk to China if they had to.”

Some members of the club were active in the days following Hurricane Katrina by helping to disseminate information, said Wise.

Members of the Pearl River County Amateur Radio Club are frequent volunteers with the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. The group provides communications volunteers to the county in the event of a storm, said Wise.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Pearl River Amateur Radio Club should contact a local radio operator or the EOC.