C. Earl Todd is prepared for an emergency. As an amateur or “ham” radio operator, Todd said he understands the importance of using ham radio for emergency communication, so he tested his skills during the recent flooding when he participated in the annual Georgia simulated emergency test.

As the West Georgia Emergency Coordinator, Todd was in charge of the West Georgia Ares, a group of emergency radio operators in Carroll, Heard and Haralson counties.

Tim Padgett, director of the Carroll County Emergency Management Agency, stressed the importance of maintaining communication during an emergency situation.

“The number-one thing in an emergency is communication,” Padgett said. “These are the guys who can basically take a wire and talk through it as part of a radio. If you look at historical events, when lines of communication have been down, Ham radio always comes up as one of the first alternate options.”

During the test, the Amateur Radio Emergency Service issued a power outage scenario where Regional Emergency Coordinators like Todd had to use radio communication in the instance of a statewide power outage.

“In times of an emergency, we would be there to help provide communication services for emergency personnel,” Todd said.

The drill started Oct. 4 and was scheduled to last for 48 hours, so Todd decided that since Carroll County was in an actual state of emergency, he would set up his radio next to the Federal Emergency Management Association’s temporary headquarters at 590 Hay’s Mill Road.

“The intent was to do whatever was required to indicate that we could communicate without power,” Todd said. “We accepted messages from five different people and sent them over the radio.”

One the messages came from Padgett himself.

“It was a simple request that required considerable effort,” Todd said. “He asked for a current weather report from Peachtree City.”

Todd said he was unsure how long it would take to get the report, but after 20 minutes he had current information from the National Weather Service.

“It was a good, thorough report and we needed it to make our game plan,” Padgett said. “The great part about it is they don’t tie up any of our resources. Even in that situation, we would have had to tie up one of our people on the phone with the weather service.”

Even Todd said he was impressed with the result.

“It proved to Tim, others and myself that we really can do this,” Todd said.

The rest of the messages made it to their intended recipients and one even went as far as South America, according to Todd.

“Within 24 hours we had written proof that the person received the message,” Todd said.

Though the test was nearly a month ago, Todd continues to help others improve on their emergency radio communication on a weekly basis.

“Three times a week I give training on Simplex Net operation, a system of relaying information down the road,” he said. “It requires additional antennas and wattage.”

As a ham radio operator who has achieved the highest class, called extra, Todd said he has the ability to design and build a radio himself.

“I started with a white piece of paper to draw out my plan and I worked it through to the prototype,” Todd said.

With his position, Todd said he has access to extra frequencies and privileges that could be helpful during an emergency situation. “My main concern is to try to discover deficiencies in ham radio and fix them so we will be prepared,” Todd said.

An estimated six million people throughout the world are regularly involved with amateur radio.