so we finally got enough people together to run a proper simulated emergency exercise, been trying to coordinate this for like six months with our county ARES group. the scenario was a pretty classic one — major flooding, EOC activated, hospitals and shelters need comms because cell towers are down. we had maybe 14 operators spread across four sites including the EOC itself.

the good stuff first: net control handled traffic really well, the guy we had running it has done this for years and it showed. message flow was steady and people mostly stayed disciplined on the frequency. we also had two operators who had never done anything like this before and honestly they did great once they got settled in.

now the bad stuff, and there was some bad stuff. one thing that kind of bit us was that two of our guys showed up with go-bags that hadnt been checked in probably a year, one of them had a dead battery in his HT that he didnt even know about until he tried to key up. we also had a situation where the designated alternate frequency wasnt written down anywhere that people had agreed on in advance, so when we had some QRM we lost about 8 minutes just trying to sort out where to go. thats the kind of thing that in a real event could matter a lot.

the biggest lesson for me personally was how much cognitive load people are under when theyre also trying to physically set up equipment AND handle traffic. practicing each piece separately doesnt really prepare you for doing them all at once under a little bit of pressure. anyway curious if anyone else has done similar drills and what tripped you up

yeah the battery thing is so real, you'd be amazed how many people dont rotate their batteries or even just plug the HT in once a month to top it off. we started requiring everyone in our group to do a quick gear check the week before any drill, just turn it on, verify it transmits, check that your written freq list is current. sounds basic but it cut down on that exact problem a lot.

the alternate frequency thing is a really common one too. our section has a published EOP with primary and alternate freqs but half the people showing up for drills have either never read it or forgot it at home. we actually started laminating a little card with the freq plan and ICS basics and handing them out at the start of every exercise. its a small thing but people actually use them.

also the cognitive load thing — 100%. thats specifically why i think tabletop exercises have real value even though some operators kind of look down on them. getting the mental side practiced separately from the physical side means when you combine them its not completely overwhelming. sounds like your group did a solid first run though, those lessons you pulled out are exactly the right ones

this is the kind of post i needed to read honestly, im working toward my ARES registration and have been a little nervous about participating in a real drill because i dont want to be the person slowing things down. good to know even experienced folks run into issues. the 8 minutes on the freq thing doesnt sound like much but yeah i can see how that adds up when youre trying to relay messages about like actual emergencies