Our section's SET exercise "November Gale" is coming up on 11/9 and I'm working on scenario development. I learned about a great drill where radio amateurs simulated a flood due to a dam collapse that forced people to take shelter in a school, with hams transmitting how many cots and hot meals would be needed, which got more complicated when they discovered refugees needed prescription drugs that were difficult to read and pronounce.

The purpose of SET is to find out the strengths and weaknesses of ARES, NTS, RACES and other groups in providing emergency communications. What scenarios has your group used that really tested your capabilities? Looking for ideas that go beyond basic message passing.

Interested in exercises that challenge both technical skills and operational procedures under realistic stress.

We ran a wildfire evacuation scenario last year that was eye-opening. It was crucial to practice the phonetics of medicine names in order to transmit them correctly. We had operators relay prescription information for "evacuees" with complex medication names - really tested our copy accuracy under pressure!

Areas may benefit from scheduling drills and exercises to keep operators ready to respond in emergencies, and drills also ensure that professionals and ham operators are comfortable working together. Try a hospital communication outage scenario - we partnered with local emergency management and it really showed gaps in our ICS knowledge. The served agencies loved the realism too.

During the exercise, volunteers can assess equipment, modes, and skills under simulated emergency conditions and scenarios. Our group did a "fiber cut" scenario similar to what happened in Oregon - all internet and phone down, only HF and VHF/UHF working. Really made us think about backup communication paths we hadn't considered before.