so ive been with our local ARES group for about 8 months now, went through the ICS courses and all the SET exercises but next weekend is the first time weve been called up for an actual deployment. county emergency management wants us at the EOC for a pretty significant flood watch situation and my EC just confirmed were going to have at least two operators there plus a couple at the shelter sites.

I guess my question is mostly just... what do you actually DO during a real activation when its not a drill. like i know the basics, net control, traffic handling, logging everything, but theres something different about knowing its real. anybody been through their first one and have advice on what caught them off guard. I have my go bag ready, brought my IC-7300 once to a drill but thinking a VHF/UHF setup might be more practical here since were mostly doing simplex and repeater work between sites. trying not to overthink it

Hey first off thats great that your group is getting called up, means your EC has been doing the relationship building with the county which a lot of groups struggle with honestly.

My advice from doing this for about 12 years now -- the biggest thing that catches new folks off guard is how much waiting there is punctuated by moments where you need to be completely on your game. its not like a contest where youre constantly busy. you might sit for two hours and then suddenly net control needs a welfare check relayed and you have like 30 seconds to get your head in the game. so stay off your phone, keep the log open, keep the radio on. also eat something before you go and bring snacks because nobody is going to remind you and you will forget.

For gear yeah VHF/UHF is almost certainly what youll use. your 7300 might just stress you out trying to find HF utility in a county-level activation. bring a good dual band HT as backup to whatever mobile you set up.

the logging thing is so real -- first activation i ever did i was keeping mental notes thinking i'd write it down later and my EC pulled me aside after and was like where's your log and i had basically nothing. was pretty embarrassing. now i keep a paper log going even when we have digital logging set up because batteries die and laptops crash and paper doesnt.

youll do fine. just listen more than you transmit until you get a feel for the rhythm of the net