so i've been licensed for about two years now and finally got around to joining our county ARES group maybe six months ago. did a few of the training nets, got my ICS-100 and 200 done online which honestly wasnt as bad as i thought it'd be, and then last weekend we actually got activated for a pretty serious weather event in our area.

i was assigned to one of the local shelters as a liaison operator and man, i was not fully prepared for how much sitting around there is interspersed with moments where everyone suddenly needs something at once. i had my HT and a little roll-up j-pole i threw up in a window which worked way better than i expected for hitting the repeater, and we were passing traffic back to the EOC for most of Saturday night.

the part that surprised me was how much of the job is just being a calm presence and knowing your equipment cold. there was a moment where the shelter coordinator was pretty stressed and i just had to stay cool and relay what she needed clearly. nobody warned me that part of emcomm is basically being unflappable even when you've been awake for 18 hours.

anyway just wanted to share since i know a lot of people on here are curious about ARES stuff but haven't taken the plunge yet. worth doing if your local group is active. ours has been really welcoming.

that's a really good writeup, thanks for sharing. the 'hurry up and wait' thing is so real and i dont think any training exercise really prepares you for it. i've been doing ARES for about eight years and activations are still kind of the same rhythm — long stretches of nothing and then a burst where you really earn your ticket.

the j-pole in the window trick is solid by the way. ive done that at shelters before and you'd be surprised how well it works even from a ground floor. some guys show up with massive go-kits and antenna masts and spend half their time setting up while you're already on frequency.

one thing id add for anyone reading this who's thinking about joining — get your ICS-700 done too if you havent. some served agencies are starting to require it and it's only like two hours online. makes you look more prepared when you show up and honestly it does help you understand where radio fits in the bigger picture of how these events are managed.

this is exactly the kind of post i needed to read. i passed my technician exam back in March and ive been kind of on the fence about ARES because it seemed intimidating, like i didnt know enough yet. but the way you describe it makes it sound a lot more accessible. did your group do any kind of formal orientation or did you just kind of show up to a training net and figure it out from there?