CARETOPREPARE

🙏🏻 Thank you to all who made the 2026 CARETOPREPARE Exercise a smashing success!​

What an incredible day of teamwork, camaraderie, and sheer operational fun! The CARETOPREPARE exercise wasn't just about simulating a massive power outage—it was about proving that when the lights go out, our passion and professionalism shine even brighter.

Every check-in, every message, and every technical puzzle solved together was a testament to the robust, supportive community we’ve built. You navigated the challenges with skill and enthusiasm, transforming a rigorous test into a massive success. This effort reinforces our confidence and, just as importantly, our bonds.

Thank you for bringing your energy, your ingenuity, and your dedication to emergency preparedness. This is how we play to be ready!

​ 🔢 By the numbers

• ​321 Winlink Messages received during the operational period from German, Austrian, Italian, New York and California stations

• 49 Winlink Check-ins (some stations checked in and out multiple times during the weeklong operational period DACH stations enjoyed)

• 16 LAXNORTHEAST stations on the live net on DARN

  • Excellent net discipline

  • Stations stayed on task

  • Improvements: improve consistency with the incident name. Avoid using commas in text when the output is CSV.

• 26 Resource Polls  with 217 resources reported

• 26 Radio Kit Poll reports. Average preparedness percentage reported 65%

• 27 Preparedness Poll reports. Average preparedness percentage reported 80%, average water supply 7.2 days, average food supply 7.3%

• 34 Welfare Bulletin Messages

🗣️ What our participants said

• Need to gather hard copies of important phone numbers and top off the emergency kit.

• Personal equipment and preparedness kits require review, improvement, and supplementation of missing items.

• Regular practice is crucial to maintain skills and prevent forgetting.

• Ensure essential information, such as GPS coordinates for Points of Interest, is available offline.

• Learned to work with Winlink forms and improved copy/paste techniques for efficient form completion.

• Must get Packet Winlink and Pinpoint APRS operational.

• Switching digital devices (e.g., Link500, Digirig) can be challenging.

• Pure text messages transmit well over HF because the file size is smaller.

• Developed a faster, more efficient way to set up and stabilize the antenna mast.

• It is important to have a secondary computer ready with all programs updated for effective operations.

• Successfully used Vara FM for the entire exercise without relying on telnet.

• Learned to save Winlink documents before posting to the outbox and to consistently update and save the ICS-214 form.

• Discovered the existence of solderless PL259 kits.

​The CARETOPREPARE dashboard is now available on the exercise website at 

https://www.laxnortheast.org/exercises/5th-saturday-exercises/2026-caretoprepare

Thank you!