RATHDRUM - If you happened to notice several antennas in the center of Rathdrum City Park this weekend, don't worry. It wasn't indiscreet espionage.

The Kootenai Amateur Radio Society conducted its annual field day operation, an international "ham" radio exercise, for 24 hours in the park beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday. The event served as a preparedness exercise to test the abilities of local amateur radio operators under simulated emergency conditions.

Three stations were set up in the pavilion, focusing on data, Morse code, voice operations and more. At least 20 people attended the exercise midday to hone their amateur, or ham, radio skills while in the field.

"The whole purpose of this is we mobilize to do something away from our comfort zone, in rough conditions in less-than-ideal situations," said KARS member Chris Nordstrom of Post Falls. "Some of these guys are having problems with a power line nearby that's causing some static interference on the frequencies they're operating on, so you have to figure out ways to get around that. You have to adapt, persevere, overcome."

Ed Stuckey of Post Falls is the American Radio Relay League section manager for the state of Idaho. He welcomed curious guests and interacted with the society members as they sent and received messages via short band radio waves.

"In the amateur radio hobby, we like to do emergency preparedness stuff," he said. "What we're doing today has been going on since the 1930s ... the concept back then must have been awful. They had to lug big, heavy radios and stuff out to a picnic someplace."

Stuckey recalled his first radio conversation back in 1957 "like it was yesterday." He lived in Missouri. He was 13 and he used Morse code to communicate with someone about 150 miles away, which he said was a big deal back then.

"I remember when I made my first radio contact, I got goosebumps, which is creepy," he said. "But I'm still thrilled, every night, when I'm on the radio talking."

Stuckey and Nordstrom both said that these field exercises are important, and that it is very important that young people get involved with amateur radio. Understanding amateur radio can be helpful when electricity and Internet are not available and a community is experiencing a crisis or natural disaster.

"Kids coming out of school want to know what to do, I tell them to get into technology," Nordstrom said. "I think the skills that you learn in amateur radio will apply in all areas of just about any kind of technology."

Nordstrom said he became involved in ham radio when he was in the Air Force in the 1980s. His interest resurfaced in 2012 during the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

"Just amazing stories about the two guys that were on the Titanic and how radio, early days of radio in 1912, had a major impact on saving the 750 (passengers) that survived," he said. "It was all with CW (continuous wave) Morse code. That's what inspired me to get back in and relearn it."

Interested parties do need to obtain a license to become a ham radio operator. Testing is done locally through KARS. The field day operation was sponsored and facilitated through the American Radio Relay League.

Info: www.k7id.org