so ive been putting together a go-kit for emcomm and general portable ops and im running into the usual rabbit hole of trying to figure out power. right now im using a 100ah lithium battery with a 30a solar charge controller and a small 100w panel, which works okay for HF but the minute i fire up the IC-7300 at anything above like 50w for any sustained period the voltage starts drooping and i get nervous.

the question is really about whether to add a generator into the mix or just go bigger on the battery bank. ive been looking at the honda eu2200i since everyone seems to love them but that thing is expensive and kind of heavy to haul around if im doing a true SOTA or field day type setup. the cheaper inverter gens like the westinghouse or champion, anyone actually run one of those at a real event and had it hold up? not just backyard testing.

also on the antenna side im currently using an EFHW with a 9:1 unun on a 31ft jackite pole and it works decent but i feel like im leaving something on the table. been thinking about a linked dipole or maybe one of those lab599 or alexloop type deals for faster deployment. not sure if that tradeoff in efficiency is worth the convenience. any thoughts from people who have actually done extended field ops would be appreciated, like 8+ hours not just a 2 hour activation

the honda eu2200i is genuinely worth the money if youre doing emcomm seriously. ive run mine through three field day events and one actual deployment after a hurricane and it just doesnt complain. the inverter output is clean enough that ive plugged the 7300 directly into it with no issues, no interference that i could hear. the weight thing is real though, its not light, but theres a companion port on the 2200i and you can parallel two of them if you ever need more capacity which is nice to have as an option even if you never use it.

on the cheap gens - a guy in our club brought a champion to field day one year and it ran fine honestly but it was noticeably noisier RF-wise. wasnt totally unusable but we had to be more careful about where we parked it relative to the antenna. probably fine for digital modes or if you have a good line filter but for ssb phone ops it was annoying enough that he ended up just not using it after a while.

for the battery side, i'd honestly do both. run the battery as your primary and let the generator top it off when needed rather than running the radio directly off the gen. cleaner that way and you get the best of both

the linked dipole vs EFHW thing really depends on what bands you care about. i used an EFHW for years and finally switched to a home brew linked dipole for sota and honestly the deployement time isnt that much worse once you practice it a few times. the efficiency difference is real though, especially on 40m where the EFHW is already kind of compromised depending on your counterpoise situation.

one thing i'll throw out there - have you looked at the elecraft AX1 or the various hamstick dipole type setups? for true strap-on-your-back portability those are hard to beat even if theyre not as efficient. depends what youre optimizing for i guess. if its emcomm and you need reliable contacts over efficiency, antenna height and location matters way more than a few db of antenna gain anyway