so i finally got activated for a real deployment last weekend, not just a drill. county had some flooding and the EOC requested ARES support for about 14 hours. im still pretty new to the group, only been a member since spring and this was my first real thing beyond the monthly nets and that SET we did in october.

overall it went fine i think, i was mostly doing message handling and logging at the EOC itself so i wasnt out in the field or anything. the EC kept things pretty organized. but a couple things came up that im not sure about and i wanted to ask here because i dont always want to bug my EC with every little question.

first one is about ICS forms, specifically the ICS-213. we were using paper copies which is fine but another op brought a tablet with some software that autofilled some of the fields. is that pretty standard now or was that just his thing? i felt kind of behind the times with my paper forms but the EC didnt say anything either way.

second thing is more about freqs. we were on a designated ARES simplex freq for most of it but at one point we switched to a linked repeater system i wasnt totally familiar with and i fumbled a bit with the offset. nothing bad happened but it made me realize i should probably have all the local stuff programmed way better than i do. anyone have a good system for organizing their radio programming for activations specifically?

congrats on your first real activation, flooding events are actually a good one to start with because theyre usually not super chaotic like a tornado response can be. the ICS-213 software thing is pretty common now, a lot of folks use things like ICS-DMS or some groups have their own templates in excel or whatever. paper is still totally valid and honestly sometimes preferred by served agencies who dont want to deal with files. i wouldnt stress about it at all.

on the programming question — what i do and what i tell newer folks in our group is to have a dedicated "activation" memory bank or zone in your radio if it supports that. i keep all the ARES repeaters, the RACES freqs, simplex calling, and the EOC direct freqs all in one zone so i can switch to it and know everything in there is relevant. also i make a laminated card that lives in my go bag with the freq list, offsets, tones, and any notes. sounds old school but when its noisy and stressful at 2am you dont want to be digging through menus.

sounds like you did well though, fumbling an offset once during a 14 hour deployment isnt exactly a crisis.

yeah the paper vs digital forms thing comes up in our group too, some of the older guys really prefer paper because it doesnt need power or wifi and thats a fair point honestly. but the tablet thing is nice when it works. i think as long as your EC is happy with what youre using its fine either way.

also just want to say good on you for doing the training before jumping in. ive seen people show up to activations who barely know whats going on and it makes more work for everyone. the fact that youre already thinking about improving your programming and your ICS knowledge after one activation is a good sign.