so after years of telling myself id get around to it, im actually building a proper go-kit. been a ham for about 6 years and never really had anything more organized than just grabbing my HT and hoping for the best. with some of the weather we've had lately it really hit me that I need to be more prepared.

right now ive got a Yaesu FT-891 that im planning to use as the main rig, a 40Ah LiFePO4 battery, a basic dipole that I can string up pretty quick, and im putting it all in a Pelican case. also throwing in a notebook and some pencils because yeah apparently that matters when everyones phone is dead.

what I keep going back and forth on is the antenna situation. do most of you run something like an EFHW for portability or do you just stick with a simple dipole? also wondering about power — is 40Ah enough for a full day of operating if im not transmitting constantly? feels like it should be but I honestly havent done the math.

also any stuff you wish you had included that you didnt think of at first? ive seen people mention things like coax adapters and spare fuses and that kind of thing, trying not to forget the small stuff that bites you later

the small stuff is exactly what gets you, you nailed it. I spent three years on our county ARES team and the number of times someone showed up with a beautiful kit and no PL-259 to SO-239 adapter or forgot a fuse is... a lot. throw a small ziplock bag in there with a handful of spare fuses, a few adapters, some electrical tape, a couple zip ties, and maybe a short patch cable. trust me.

on the antenna question, I personally run an EFHW for most deployments just because setup time actually matters when things are going sideways. a dipole is fine but if youre doing it alone you need somewhere to put the other end and thats not always easy. the EFHW with a 9:1 unun and a decent length of wire just works. you can tune it up with a manual tuner if needed and the 891 has a decent internal one anyway.

40Ah should be totally fine for a day of mixed rx/tx if you keep your duty cycle reasonable. i've run an 857 off a 30Ah for 8 hours at a field day style event with no issues. just dont crank power to 100W and transmit constantly and youll be good.

one more thing — document your kit. I know that sounds boring but write down whats in it and where things are. when youre tired and stressed you dont want to be digging around.

oh man this is something ive been meaning to do too so im watching this thread. one thing my elmer told me that stuck — he said dont forget a headlamp. like specifically for the kit, not just assuming you have one somewhere. he showed up to a midnight exercise and couldnt see anything he was doing for the first half hour. sounds obvious but yeah