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When disaster strikes, there may not be an app for that

When a 4.3 magnitude earthquake jolted southern British Columbia late at night Dec. 30, 2015, social media lit up. People hit Twitter and Facebook to confirm what they’d just felt.
Field Day
MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS Tyler Cristiano, 16, will be the incident commander for the Port Coquitlam Emergency Preparedness Communications group as they set up a weekend-long camp at Castle Park to test their radio equipment and emergency procedures. The event is part of the annual Field Day when more than 40,000 amateur radio operators around North America try to make as many radio contacts as they can.

When a 4.3 magnitude earthquake jolted southern British Columbia late at night Dec. 30, 2015, social media lit up. People hit Twitter and Facebook to confirm what they’d just felt.

But when a major quake hits, as geologists predict it will someday, that option may not be available. Power could be out, cell phone service disrupted, the internet cut off.

That’s when old-school amateur radio could kick in to reestablish communications to the outside world, between communities, emergency services and even people looking for word on the fate of loved ones.

This weekend more than 40,000 amateur radio operators from around North America, including two local groups, will be putting their capability to provide communication services to the test in their annual Field Day.

Paul Bryan, the president of the Coquitlam Amateur Radio and Emergency Services Society (CARESS) said the event is a chance for amateur radio hobbyists to dry run their own emergency procedures and equipment, before they’re needed.

“Activating in this way provides us with the opportunity to exercise our own procedures,” Bryan said. “Also, exercising the equipment gives us a chance to check how it’s working when you’re not in an emergency. It’s all the little details that going into being able to set up a station, like spare batteries. Often that’s the part that’s overlooked.”

Bryan said about 30 to 40 amateur radio operators from his club, as well as clubs in Burnaby and New Westminster, will be encamped at Blue Mountain Park from 10 a.m. Saturday to 10 a.m. Sunday. They’ll be running their radios off generators and batteries as they communicate by voice, digital signals and even morse code to other radio operators around the world. There will also be a demonstration of low-power transmission that uses as little as five watts, and operating radios with solar-powered batteries.

Port Coquitlam’s Emergency Preparedness Communications (EPCom) team will be at Castle Park from 5 p.m. Friday to noon on Sunday.

Tyler Cristiano, of EPCom, said Field Day is an important reminder of the vulnerability of the communications infrastructure we often take for granted.

“You have to have an alternate way to make sure everyone is safe,” Cristiano said. “Amateur radio doesn’t rely on any other infrastructure.”

Bryan said during the radio operators will log all the contacts they make over the air. If atmospheric conditions are favourable, some of those can even be on the other side of the globe as signals bounce off the ionosphere.

“It helps you understand what the propagation of radio signals is like,” Bryan said. “It give you a good idea of how far your signal will go.”

That can be especially important if a large-scale disaster cuts off immediate communication to the outside world. Bryan said amateur radio can step in during those early hours by relaying information to keep different agencies in touch.

The public is invited to drop by the Coquitlam camp any time. It will be located on the Porter Street side of the park. Visitors can observe the Port Coquitlam camp on Saturday, from noon to 4 p.m.