Members of the Macon Amateur Radio Club and the Bibb County Amateur Radio Emergency Service participated in the national Amateur Radio Field Day exercise on Saturday.
Field day helps showcase amateur radios ability to work reliably under any conditions from almost any location, contacting people from all over the nation from New York to California.
This also is the time for operators to sharpen up their skills in case of an emergency and make sure all of their gear is up to date.
Ed Campbell has been an operator for over 20 years, and says this is the perfect way to make sure people stay informed.
"Cellphones are great but they aren't always that dependable if power goes out amateur radio has ways to contact and make emergency contacts whenever there are situations that are life threatening, but unless you practice you cant really know if your systems and operations are working so it is 24 hours of fun but we are also serving a purpose," he says.
Anyone can become a licensed amateur radio operator.
There are over 725,000 licensed operators in the United States as young as 5 and as old as 100.
If you'd like to join, the club meets at 700 Popular Street at 6:30 every third Thursday of the month.