so ive been a ham for about three years now and i keep telling myself im going to put together a proper go-kit for emergencies and i just never actually do it. well after the storms we had last month and losing power for two days i figured it was time to stop procrastinating. i already have an FT-857D that i was thinking of using as the main rig, plus a buddipole that i borrowed from the club a while back and honestly kind of forgot to return (sorry Dave if you're reading this)

anyway i put it all in a big rubbermaid tote for now which i know is not ideal. i have a 20ah lifepo4 battery, a basic coax jumper, my logbook obviously, and some DC power cables. i think i have the basics but something keeps nagging me that im forgetting important stuff. like is there a standard checklist people use for this kind of thing or do you just kind of figure it out as you go? also curious whether people keep their go-kits in their car or just at home ready to grab

the rubbermaid tote thing is totally fine to start, dont let anyone tell you otherwise. i ran mine out of a pelican case for years and honestly the tote was easier to work out of at a table. what i'd think about though is power monitoring -- do you have a way to watch your battery voltage under load? a little watt meter or even just a basic voltmeter velcroed inside the lid saves you from killing the battery without realizing it during a long activation.

also and this is the one people always forget -- documentation. like printed documentation. frequencies for your local ARES nets, your ICS forms if you're doing any served-agency stuff, even just a laminated card with your most-used simplex freqs. when things get hectic you do not want to be scrolling through your phone to find the county EOC frequency. i learned that one the hard way at a SKYWARN activation a few years back, my phone died and i was just kind of standing there

oh and antenna feedline -- how much coax do you have? one short jumper is never enough once you're actually set up somewhere and the mast is 30 feet away from where you're sitting

headlamp. seriously. i know it sounds dumb but every single time i've deployed or even just set up at a field event after dark i end up wishing i had one clipped to the bag. that and a small battery powered fan for the summer, operating inside a trailer or a tent in july with a rig putting out 100w gets miserable fast

the 857 is a solid choice for portable ops btw, good rig for that kind of thing