so ive been meaning to do this for like two years and after the storms last month kind of kicked me into gear (no pun intended). got myself a Pelican 1510 case and started throwing stuff in. right now i have my FT-817ND, a LiFePO4 battery around 20ah, some coax, my j-pole rolled up, a few adapters and a notebook with my frequencies written down. also tossed in a headlamp which feels dumb but i figure why not.

im pretty happy with where its at but theres gotta be stuff i havent thought of. like i keep reading about people having all these elaborate setups and mine feels kinda bare bones. is there a list somewhere or should i just think through scenarios? the main thing i'd be using it for is ARES activations or honestly just if the grid goes down and i want to stay on the air. any advice welcome, this community has always been super helpful when i have dumb questions

honestly your list sounds pretty solid for a starting point, dont overthink it too much. one thing that trips people up is power connectors -- make sure you have anderson powerpoles on everything and maybe carry a few spare ones loose in the kit. i cant tell you how many times ive seen someone show up to an activation and their radio uses a different connector than everything else they brought.

also a small notepad is good but i'd add a waterproof one, the regular paper kind turns into mush if youre working outdoors in any kind of weather. and if your j-pole needs a mast think about what you're gonna do for that. i use a painter's pole from the hardware store, breaks down small and works great. headlamp is not dumb at all, that's actually smart thinking, you'll want it.

the thing nobody thinks about until they need it is documentation -- like a laminated card with your call sign, your local repeater freqs, ARES contact info, maybe APRS settings. when youre stressed and tired your brain doesnt remember things you think are obvious.

yeah what he said about the powerpoles. also depending on how long you might need to run -- 20ah is decent but if you're running HF at any kind of power you go through that faster than you expect. i have a second smaller battery just for the radio and use the big one for accessories and a fan if its hot out. probably overkill for most situations but after sitting through a 14 hour ARES deployment i kind of learned my lesson on that one.

one more random thing -- snacks. sounds stupid but when youre focused on the radio for hours you forget to eat and then you make dumb mistakes. i keep a couple granola bars and some instant coffee packets in a little zipper bag in the lid of my case. not exactly emergency prep advice but trust me on this one lol