so ive been putting together a go-kit for ARES activations and i keep going back and forth on the power situation. right now i have a 100ah lifepo4 battery that does fine for my IC-7300 on receive and light tx duty, but when i start thinking about running sustained comms for like 6-8 hours with decent tx time it gets dicey especially if im also running a laptop and maybe a 2m radio alongside it.

the question is whether to haul a small inverter generator to supplement or just get a second battery pack. ive looked at the honda eu2200i and a couple of the cheaper harbor freight predators but the noise and fuel logistics at a disaster site kind of bugs me. on the other hand two 100ah batteries is like 60lbs of lithium which isnt exactly grab and go either.

also the antenna situation — right now im using a buddipole which works okay but setup time is annoying when youre trying to be operational fast. been eyeing the chameleon MPAS lite or maybe just going with a simple end fed for most HF work. anybody running a similar setup who has strong feelings either way on the power question specifically would love to hear what actually worked in the field not just on paper

the generator vs battery thing really comes down to your expected run time and how mobile you actually need to be. for most ARES stuff where youre setting up at a fixed location for several hours i'd lean generator every time. a eu2200i is overkill honestly, i run a predator 2000 and it handles my 7300 plus a few accessories no problem, and yes its louder but you stick it downwind 20 feet and run an extension cord and its really not that bad. fuel is a solved problem if you prep right — just keep two one gallon cans rotated in your kit.

that said i've also done events where the noise was completely unacceptable and the battery-only approach was the only option. in those cases i run a 100ah and a 50ah in parallel through a victron battery protect and just accept that im gonna have to manage tx duty cycle more carefully. two batteries sounds heavy but if you pack smart it really isnt that different from hauling the generator plus fuel plus cord.

on the antenna front i switched from a buddipole to a 40m EFHW on a 31 foot jackite pole like two years ago and never looked back. setup is honestly under 5 minutes once you practice it and it loads fine on 40 20 and 15 without a tuner if you cut it right. the buddipole is more flexible in theory but that flexibility costs you time every single deployment

yeah the chameleon MPAS is nice but honestly for ARES work where speed matters i think the efhw route the other guy mentioned is hard to beat. i use a 49:1 unun i wound myself and just a roll of wire, total cost maybe 15 bucks in parts and its been more reliable than anything i bought prebuilt.

on the power thing — have you looked at solar at all? im not saying go full off grid prepper mode but even a 100w panel feeding your lifepo4 during the day can basically eliminate the battery capacity problem if the sun cooperates. obviously useless at night or under heavy overcast but for a lot of the activations i do its enough to keep the battery topped off while im operating