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Run comms drills that simulate cascading failure

Equipment that has never been used under pressure fails when it matters. CISA advises practising every PACE level and rehearsing cascading failures.

How

1. Once a month, switch off phones and internet for an evening and run the whole household on the PACE plan.
2. Work down the levels: estate radio check, neighbour roll call, regional net check-in, then a mock emergency message passed on paper.
3. Have each person send and receive one message on every device they might need, including the PLB test function if the maker provides one (never a live alert).
4. Time how long each method takes and note what failed.
5. Fix problems and update the PACE plan and channel card. Include drills in the family drill schedule (safety-24).

Safety: Never trigger a live PLB or satellite SOS as part of a drill.

Do these first

• safety-24

Sources

1. Leveraging the PACE Plan into the Emergency Communications Ecosystem. CISA / SAFECOM and NCSWIC, accessed 2026-11
2. ARES fact sheet. ARRL, accessed 2026-11

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