Thursday, April 30, 2026
22 check-insThis Week's Question
"Do you have a home preparedness plan that covers the possibility of a longer deployment? Visit ready.gov for suggestions."
Home Preparedness for the Long Haul — Building a Plan That Outlasts You
As ARPSC operators, we train for the moments when our communities need us most — severe weather, extended power outages, search-and-rescue, mutual-aid activations. Most of those callouts are over in a few hours. But what happens when they aren't?
A multi-day deployment doesn't just test your readiness — it tests your household's readiness. The single best gift you can give your family before that pager goes off is a written home preparedness plan that lets life keep moving without you for at least 72 hours, and ideally a full two weeks.
Why a Written Plan Matters
- Mental bandwidth: When you're activated, you should be focused on the mission — not worrying whether the heat is set correctly or who's walking the dog.
- Family confidence: A spouse, partner, parent, or roommate who knows the plan is far more likely to support your service than one left guessing.
- Speed of response: A pre-staged go-kit and pre-staged household supplies mean you're out the door in minutes, not hours.
- Resilience: The same plan that keeps your house running during a deployment also keeps it running during the storm, outage, or quarantine that caused the deployment.
- Peace of mind: You can't fix it from the field. Fix it now, on a quiet Saturday, while there's still time and power.
The Ready.gov Framework: Make a Kit, Make a Plan, Stay Informed
FEMA's Ready.gov program organizes home preparedness around three simple ideas. Use them as the skeleton of your own plan.
Build a household supply cache that can sustain everyone at home for at least 72 hours without you. Then build a separate go-kit that leaves with you.
Stay-At-Home Kit
- Water — 1 gallon per person per day, 3-day minimum
- Non-perishable food — 3-day minimum, 2-week ideal
- Manual can opener, mess kit, utensils
- Battery or hand-crank radio (NOAA Weather Radio)
- Flashlights, lanterns, extra batteries
- First-aid kit and 7-day supply of medications
- Sanitation: toilet paper, hygiene items, garbage bags
- Cash in small bills (ATMs may be down)
- Pet food, water, meds, vaccination records, carrier
Your Go-Kit
- 72 hours of water and ready-to-eat food for you
- HT(s), spare batteries, charger, antenna, programming cable
- HF/Winlink go-box if you're set up for it
- Headlamp + spare batteries, multi-tool, gloves
- ARPSC ID, FCC license copy, ICS-214 pad, pens
- Personal meds (7+ days), spare glasses
- Weather-appropriate clothing layers, rain gear, sturdy boots
- Sleeping bag, pad, small pillow for shelter operations
- Phone, power bank, charging cables
A plan in your head is a plan that disappears the moment you're not there. Print it, put copies on the fridge and in every go-bag, and walk through it with your household.
| Topic | What to Cover |
|---|---|
| Communication | Out-of-area contact, ICE numbers, your ARPSC dispatcher's number, alternate comms if cell is down (text-only, Winlink-to-email, FRS family channel). |
| Meeting Points | One spot near home (mailbox, neighbor's porch) and one outside the neighborhood in case you can't return. |
| Evacuation | Two routes out of town, where the family goes, and who drives if you're already deployed elsewhere. |
| Household Operations | How to shut off gas, water, and electricity. Where the breaker panel is. How to start the generator. Where the snow shovel lives. |
| Money & Bills | Bills on autopay, a small cash reserve, joint access to one checking account, a printed list of account numbers in the document binder. |
| Documents | Copies of IDs, insurance, deeds, medical info, and pet records — in a waterproof binder and on an encrypted USB. |
| Dependents & Pets | Backup childcare, who picks the kids up from school, who has the spare house key, who feeds and walks the pets. |
| Medical | Prescription list, allergies, medical devices, who calls the doctor if something goes wrong while you're gone. |
| Special Needs | Mobility, dietary, language, oxygen, refrigerated medications — plan for power loss and for your absence. |
- NOAA Weather Radio with SAME alerts programmed for Macomb County.
- Wireless Emergency Alerts enabled on every phone in the house.
- Local sources: Macomb County OEM, your city's notification system, the WA8MAC 147.200 repeater, and the ARPSC Thursday net.
- Train your household to monitor those same sources when you're activated — that way they hear about the storm before you can call them.
The ARPSC-Specific Layer
Ready.gov is written for the general public. Add these items to your plan because you are the one who leaves when the lights go out:
- The "I'm activated" call: a single, pre-agreed phrase ("I'm rolling on an ARPSC callout, I'll check in when I can") so your family knows exactly what's happening.
- Estimated duration brackets: short (under 6 hours), medium (overnight), long (multi-day). Each one triggers a different household response.
- Backup operator at home: a family member or neighbor who knows how to hand-mic the home HT and pass a quick health-and-welfare message into the net if needed.
- Mutual support buddy: another ARPSC member whose family checks on yours, and vice-versa, when one of you is in the field.
- Work coverage: who knows you may not show up Monday, and how do you let your boss know you're safe but unavailable?
- Decompression: plan for re-entry. A long deployment is hard on the operator and on the family waiting at home. Build in time to talk afterwards.
This Week's Action Item
Pick one piece of your plan that doesn't exist yet, and finish it before next Thursday's net. Just one. For example:
- Print and post emergency contacts on the fridge
- Test-start the generator and refill the gas can
- Refresh the water in your stay-at-home kit
- Walk a family member through shutting off the gas
- Photograph IDs, insurance cards, and titles to a USB
- Check medication expirations in your go-bag
- Program NOAA SAME codes into the weather radio
- Set up an "I'm safe" code phrase with your household
Further Reading
Ready.gov
FEMA's home-preparedness portal. Kit lists, plan templates, hazard guides.
Visit Ready.govFamily Emergency Plan (PDF)
Fillable PDF template you can print and post on the fridge tonight.
Download TemplateEmergency Supply Checklist
FEMA's printable basic-supplies list — great for your stay-at-home kit.
Download ChecklistARRL: Emergency Comms at Home
Operator-focused home preparedness from the ARRL Public Service team.
Visit ARRLYour Family Serves Too
Every time you key up on a deployment, someone at home is covering for you. The strongest thank-you we can offer them is a household that runs smoothly while we're gone — because we planned for it before the pager went off.
Check-In List
| # | Call Sign | Name | City | Member |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20/KE8WUO | John | Warren | — |
| 2 | 2/N8VDZ | Mike | Warren | — |
| 3 | N8WRO | Tim | Richmond | Member |
| 4 | 30/W8VOX | Jon | Macomb | — |
| 5 | KF8ETQ | Darren | Fraser | Member |
| 6 | 26/N8CAF | Cliff | Clinton Township | — |
| 7 | W1BLU | Blue | Clinton Township | Member |
| 8 | 35/AD8MP | David | Saint Clair Shores | — |
| 9 | 38/N8KJV | Jason | Warren | — |
| 10 | N8XZ | Ron | Warren | Member |
| 11 | KE8RUH | Anthony | Grosse Pointe Woods | Member |
| 12 | N8KNS | Don | Sterling Heights | Member |
| 13 | N8HLY | Tom | Sterling Heights | Member |
| 14 | 6/N8WCB | Dave | Sterling Heights | — |
| 15 | KF8FQY | Ernest | Clinton Township | — |
| 16 | 15/N8HAP | Joe | New Baltimore | — |
| 17 | 9/W8VD | Wally | New Baltimore | — |
| 18 | 1/KE8YNU | Dave | New Haven | — |
| 19 | KF8FGS | David | Utica | Member |
| 20 | 42/N8DBF | Dakota | Almont | — |
| 21 | 7/W8FU | Sean | Warren | — |
| 22 | N8BZR | Brian | Harrison Township | Member |