The Foothills Amateur Radio Society is going to show off what it's all about this weekend in high River.

The society's members, which number 300 to 400 in the foothills, use their equipment to contact others around the world during good times and bad.

Vince d'Eon says that includes when the communications systems went down during the 2013 flood.

"During the floods there was a total failure of the conventional communications networks," d'Eon says. "What we did at a provincial level was we stood in as that communications network through radio operators stationed in Edmonton and Red Deer and then we had 50 or 55 radio operators in and surrounding the town of High River."

He says earlier this month he was working with the Town of Wabasca which was under threat from forest fires in the area. He was able to do that from his home in Okotoks with his high frequency radio equipment, ready to pass on information because the fear was the fire could cut off the only communication lines the town had.

d'Eon says while some have their equipment set up in their homes others can communicate while walking down the street or one a bike or even at the top of a mountain by stringing out a wire antennae and talking with others around the world before resuming their hike.

"The antennae can be a simple thing," he says. "You can throw a long wire up into a tree on top of a mountain and you're antenna's there. You don't need a lot of power to toss a signal around the world. We regularly communicate with a 100 watts of radio power all over the planet."

The society, along with three other clubs will be doing an Emergency Preparedness Exercise, bringing all of their power sources and equipment out into the field, hence the "National Field Day" title.

They'll be set up at Sheppard Family Park this weekend as part of the National Field Day for Licensed Radio Amateurs. They'll be there from noon until 8 p.m. Sat. June 27 and from 8 a.m. until noon Sun. June 28.

d'Eon says everyone is welcome to come out and see what they do and ask any questions about it.