so i finally participated in one of these ARES simulated emergency tests and honestly i wasnt prepared for how much i didnt know. like i thought i had a pretty solid go-kit, HF and VHF covered, backup power, the works. but when they threw a scenario at us where the repeater was down and we had to coordinate on simplex i just kind of froze for a second. muscle memory wasnt there.

the scenario was basically a major flooding event, county EOC needed welfare traffic relayed to the state level, and we had maybe 45 minutes to get a net up and figure out who could hit who on simplex across some pretty hilly terrain. we ended up using a hilltopper station one of the older guys set up which saved us, but if he hadnt been there i think we wouldve been scrambling.

biggest lesson for me personally was that i had never actually practiced net control. i can check into nets all day long but running one under any kind of pressure is a completely different skill. the NCS we had was super calm and it was like watching someone who just had it in their bones, totally different from how i was feeling internally lol. anyway curious if others have done these drills and what caught them off guard the first time

yeah the NCS thing is so real. i remember the first time i had to actually run a net during a drill and i kept forgetting to ID, kept letting people walk over each other, it was a mess honestly. what helped me was just volunteering to do it during regular weekly nets first before any high stakes drill. low pressure reps basically.

the simplex coordination piece is something a lot of people underestimate too. we did a drill a few years back where we mapped out simplex coverage ahead of time using a terrain analysis tool and it was kind of eye opening how different actual coverage was from what we assumed. ended up shifting our designated simplex frequency and repositioning one of our portable stations. saved a lot of headache. your hilltopper guy was the right instinct, having someone pre-positioned on high ground should probably be part of your standard plan not a happy accident if you can help it.

this is making me want to actually join my local ARES group, ive been putting it off forever. do these drills happen pretty regularly or is it like once a year thing? also whats a go-kit exactly, i keep seeing that term - is it just like a portable radio setup or is there more to it than that