so i got my general back in the spring and a buddy of mine whos been in ARES for a few years kept bugging me to join up with the local group. finally did it last month and went to my first monthly net and a tabletop exercise they ran. it was pretty fun honestly, a lot more organized than i expected but also kind of intimidating because some of these guys have been doing this for decades and know their stuff cold.

my question i guess is what actually happens when theres a real activation? like the training exercises make sense, you practice ICS forms and check-ins and whatever, but ive never been called out for an actual event. do they just call your cell phone? is there a specific net you monitor? our EC mentioned something about a calling frequency but i missed that part of the meeting. also should i be bringing my own gear or does the served agency have stuff? i have a decent HT and a mobile rig in the truck but nothing fancy. just trying to not show up useless if something actually happens.

hey welcome to ARES, its a good group to be part of. every section does things a little differently which can be confusing at first but the basics are pretty much the same everywhere. for activations most groups use a combination of a phone tree or text alert and a designated simplex or repeater frequency you monitor when things get serious. your EC should have given you a list of local frequencies to program in, if not just ask him directly, he wont mind.

as for gear, bring your own. thats kind of the whole point honestly, the served agencies are counting on you to be self sufficient especially in the first 24-48 hours of something bad. i always show up with my HT, my mobile, a spare battery pack, and my go-bag with ICS forms and some basic supplies. a lot of guys also run APRS so the EOC can see where everybody is. your truck setup sounds fine for most things, dont stress about needing fancy gear right away. just show up, be reliable, listen more than you talk and youll fit in fine.

im still pretty new to it myself but one thing i wish someone told me earlier is to actually read through ICS 100 and 200 online before you get deep into it. FEMA has free courses and your EC will probably love you for it. also the ARRL has an EC-001 course or something like that which our group actually requires now i think. the paperwork side of it felt weird to me at first coming from just doing regular ham stuff but it makes a lot more sense once youre in a real situation and theres chaos everywhere and someone needs to know whos doing what.