Residents in Three Rivers, PEI, can get hands-on with emergency radio gear later this month when the town hosts a public demonstration at the Georgetown Civic Centre. The Amateur Radio Field Day, put on by the Island Radio Club, runs June 27 and 28 and shows how ham radio keeps communities connected when cell service and internet go down.
The exercise is part of a larger ARRL Field Day happening across Canada and the United States, carrying the theme “Amateur Radio: A National Resource.” By 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, local ham operators will have antennas and radios up and running at 36 Kent Street. They will make contacts across North America using voice, Morse code, and satellites, all without standard phone or internet lines. In a real disaster, the same setups can run on generators, batteries, and solar power.
The demonstration carries fresh meaning for the area after post-tropical storm Fiona swept through in September 2022, knocking out regular communications for days. Three Rivers had only just finished its first emergency plan months earlier, and the storm made it clear that backup systems like amateur radio are a vital safety net. During Fiona, ham operators on the Island fed hourly weather and status reports into the CANWARN network and kept local radio nets open to check on their own members.
Interest in amateur radio has surged on PEI in the wake of the pandemic and Fiona. About 300 islanders held a ham license as of late 2022, and the Charlottetown Amateur Radio Club is in regular contact with the province’s Emergency Measures Organization about weaving volunteer radio skills into official response plans. Club president Bill McMaster sees a growing role for everyday ham operators in helping neighbours when the usual systems fail.
During the Georgetown weekend, visitors can meet local operators, see the equipment up close, and even try making a radio contact themselves. The town asks anyone interested to check the municipal website for final details ahead of June 27.
