So i joined my county ARES group about four months ago after getting my general and ive been going to the monthly nets and the occasional training session but next weekend theres an actual activation for a county-level emergency management exercise and im kind of nervous about it. Like i know the basics, i can operate HF and VHF fine, i have my go bag mostly sorted out, but i dont really know what the flow is like when you actually show up to something like this.

Is it pretty chaotic or do they usually have someone directing traffic and telling you where to go and what frequency to monitor? My EC seems pretty organized but ive never seen him actually run an activation before. Also do i need to bring my own radio or do they usually have stuff set up at the EOC? I have a Yaesu FT-857D and a roll up jpole in my bag but im not sure if thats what they want or if i should just show up and wait to be assigned something.

Any veterans of this stuff who can give me a feel for what the day might look like would be great. Dont want to show up and be that guy who doesnt know what hes doing and gets in the way.

Don't stress too much about it, first activations are always a little overwhelming but that's honestly part of the learning. Every ARES group runs things a little differently depending on how tight the EC is and what the served agency expects, but for a county exercise you'll probably check in at a staging area, get assigned a position or a net, and then mostly just listen and handle traffic as it comes in. Bring your own radio for sure — some EOCs have gear but you never really know if it's going to be working or if someone else already grabbed it. Your 857 and the jpole should be totally fine for most VHF work.

The thing nobody tells you going in is there's usually a lot of waiting mixed in with bursts of activity. Bring water and snacks and something to take notes with. Paper and pencil, not just your phone. Oh and make sure your ICS-213 forms are printed out ahead of time if your group uses those for message handling, that trips up a lot of newer folks who dont realize they need them on hand.

yeah what he said. i remember my first one i showed up way overpacked and stood around for like two hours before anything happened lol. the waiting is real. your EC should have a briefing at the start that explains assignments so just pay attention to that and ask questions if something isnt clear, nobody expects you to already know everything thats kind of the whole point of the exercise. the main thing is just showing up, a lot of people sign up for ARES and then disappear when an actual activation comes around so the fact that youre going counts for a lot.