Preparedness | Family drills

Emergency communications drills you can do with your family

A family communication plan only becomes useful after people practice it. The drills do not need to be dramatic. Short, calm sessions teach everyone where the notes are, who to contact, when to check in, and what to do when the first method fails.

Start with one 20-minute drill each month. Give every drill a single goal, observe what causes confusion, then update the written plan before putting the gear away. The goal is not to simulate panic. It is to make the next correct action feel familiar.

Before You Start: Set Simple Rules

• Tell everyone this is practice and give the drill a clear stop time.
• Do not interfere with real emergency services, public-safety channels, or active amateur radio traffic.
• Only licensed operators may transmit on amateur radio frequencies.
• Use ordinary language. Do not invent codes that family members may forget.
• End with a five-minute review: what worked, what failed, and what changes now?

Drill 1: The Ten-Minute Contact Card Check

Ask everyone to find the printed contact card without using a phone. Confirm names, phone numbers, addresses, medical notes, meeting places, and the out-of-area contact. Then ask each person to explain where they would go if home were unavailable. Fix errors immediately and print a fresh copy after major changes.

Drill 2: Check-In Window Practice

Pick a normal day and use two check-in windows: one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Keep every message in the same order: name, location, status, next action, and needs. If someone misses the window, follow the written fallback instead of improvising.

Drill 3: Phone-Down Walkthrough

Put phones in airplane mode for 15 minutes and walk through the plan. Which meeting place comes first? Who is the out-of-area contact? Where are the flashlights, battery banks, paper maps, and radio kit? Have one person read the plan while another finds each item. This quickly reveals instructions that only make sense to the person who wrote them.

Drill 4: Radio Listening Practice

If you are using ham radio, have licensed operators listen to local repeaters or nets and write down the repeater ID, net name, time, and any instructions they hear. If your family uses GMRS or FRS, practice within the rules for that service. Keep the focus on clear messages, known channels, and correct radio operation.

Drill 5: Go-Kit Open and Reset

Open the go-kit, check batteries, verify printed frequency lists, test lights, and make sure charger cables still match the devices you own. Remove expired supplies and confirm that every household member can carry or open the kit. A kit that never gets opened slowly becomes a box of surprises.

Drill 6: The Failed-Method Drill

Choose one communication method and declare it unavailable. If text messaging is down, what comes next? If the primary repeater cannot be reached, do you have a second repeater, a simplex frequency, or a physical meeting place? Practice moving to the backup without repeatedly retrying the failed method.

Drill 7: The Separated-Household Drill

Run this on a normal day when family members are already at work, school, or errands. Do not create a surprise emergency. Send a clearly labeled practice message and have everyone report their location, status, and next action. Confirm whether the out-of-area contact can receive and relay messages.

A 30-Minute Monthly Drill

Optional Supplies That Make Practice Easier

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• Weatherproof notebook for message logs, contact cards, and drill notes.
• USB-C battery bank for keeping phones and compatible radios available during a power outage.
• Radio pouch for keeping a handheld, spare battery, and printed channel card together.

How to Score the Drill

A successful drill is not one where nothing goes wrong. It is one where the household discovers a weak point and fixes it. Record whether everyone found the plan, used the message format, knew the backup, and reset the equipment. Repeat the same drill next month if any of those steps failed.