so we had a pretty significant ice storm roll through our county last weekend and the local ARES group got activated for the first time since i joined about 8 months ago. i've been to all the nets and done the ICS courses online and thought i had a decent handle on things but honestly nothing really prepares you for the real thing

we were deployed to the county EOC and i was assigned to handle HF traffic between our county and the neighboring one because the repeaters were having issues - some kind of power problem at the hilltop site. ended up running Winlink for most of the afternoon and a little bit of voice on 40m. the EC was great, really calm and kept everyone on task. i was fumbling around with the laptop more than i'd like to admit but eventually got into a rhythm

one thing that caught me off guard was how much just sitting and waiting there is. like a lot of it is hurry up and wait. and then all of a sudden someone needs something and you need to be on it immediately. also the served agency people (county emergency management) were really nice but had basically no idea what we actually do or what our limitations are, so there was some back and forth on expectations

anyway just wanted to share for anyone whos thinking about joining their local ARES group and wondering if its worth doing all the training. it is. even if you feel underprepared going in, the training does kick in. mostly.

this is a great writeup, thanks for sharing. the hurry up and wait thing is SO real and i dont think anyone ever really talks about it in training. i've been through probably a dozen activations over the years and every single one has that quality. the key is staying mentally sharp during the slow periods so when things do pick up youre not caught flat footed

the served agency communication thing is also a constant challenge. a lot of emergency managers have rotated through and only have a vague idea what ARES even is or what we can realistically do in terms of throughput and reliability. some ECs put together little one-page briefing sheets for the EOC staff which helps. might be worth suggesting to your EC if he's open to it

sounds like you handled the HF piece well honestly. Winlink on a noisy 40m path during winter conditions with a cold laptop and stress is not trivial. good on ya

ive been meaning to join ARES for like two years now and just keep putting it off. this kind of post makes me want to actually do it. quick question - do you need any special equipment to participate or is your personal radio setup usually enough to get started? i have a basic HF rig and a 2m/70cm handheld, not sure if thats sufficient or if theres a minimum kit people expect you to have