so ive been a ham for about 3 years now and kept telling myself id get a proper go-kit together and never did. then last month we had that big windstorm and the power was out for almost two days and i was just sitting there with my HT and a half charged battery pack feeling pretty useless. woke me up a little.

so im trying to actually do this now. i have an IC-7300 which i love but its obviously not the most portable thing in the world, and i have an older Yaesu FT-817 thats been sitting in a drawer. im thinking the 817 makes more sense for a kit but i honestly dont know what else needs to go in there. like power, antennas, cables, all of it. do people usually build around a specific case or just throw stuff in a bag? ive seen some really elaborate setups online that look like they took years to put together and i dont want to overthink it but i also want something that actually works when i need it.

any advice from people who have actually used their kit in the field or for an emergency would be great. not looking for perfection just something functional.

oh man the FT-817 is a great choice for this, ive been running one in my go-kit for years and the thing just works. low power draw, covers everything, and it fits in a surprisingly small case. mine lives in one of those Pelican 1510 cases with foam cut out for the radio, a LiFePO4 battery, and a few coax adapters. i also keep a roll of wire in there for a quick end-fed if i need it.

the biggest thing i'd tell you is dont wait for it to be perfect before you actually test it. i thought mine was ready and then took it out to a ARES exercise and realized i forgot a power cable adapter and had no way to run the thing off the battery i brought. embarrassing but better to find that out at a drill than at an actual event. make a checklist, go set it up in the backyard, make a contact, then figure out what was missing. youll learn more doing that than reading about it.

also keep some food and water in your kit. sounds obvious but a lot of people forget theyre going to be sitting somewhere for a long time potentially.

the 817 is solid but if you can find an 818 those are a little nicer to work with, just a thought. anyway what kind of emergencies are you prepping for mostly? like served agency stuff with ARES or CERT, or more just personal family preparedness? asking because it changes what you prioritize a bit. if youre doing served agency work you might need to think about what bands your group actually operates on and make sure your kit matches that, some groups are heavy into VHF/UHF for local coordination and dont need HF at all for most activations.

for cases i started with a big ammo can which was kind of a pain and moved to a small rolling carry-on bag which is way more practical honestly. everything is accessible and i dont throw my back out carrying it.