so ive been meaning to do this for like two years and after the ice storm last month that knocked out power for four days i finally got serious about it. got a Yaesu FT-891 that im planning to use as the main rig, got a 40ah LiFePO4 battery from a local guy, and i have a random wire antenna i can throw up pretty quick. also have a SignaLink for digital modes since our local ARES group does a lot of Winlink traffic.

what i keep second guessing myself on is the little stuff. like i have the big pieces but i feel like when i actually need this thing its gonna be the dumb stuff i forgot. do you guys keep a printed frequency list in the kit or just rely on memory? and what about logging, are people still doing paper logs for field stuff or is everyone running some laptop with their kit these days.

also not sure how much coax to keep in the bag, right now i have one 25 foot run of RG8X but im wondering if i should throw in another piece just in case. anyway if anyone has a checklist or just wants to share what ended up being the thing they almost forgot id love to hear it.

the printed frequency list is not optional in my opinion, dont skip that. when things are actually going sideways the last thing you want is to be digging through menus or trying to remember what the regional simplex calling frequency is. i laminated mine and it lives in the front pocket of the bag permanently. has our county ARES primary and secondary, state emergency net, NOAA weather freqs, and a few common national calling freqs. took maybe 20 minutes to make and its saved me more than once.

paper log is still the way to go for pure go-kit stuff unless you have a really solid power setup for a laptop. i run a little clipboard with preprinted ICS-309 forms and it works fine. if the situation is bad enough that you need the kit you probably dont want to be troubleshooting why your laptop wont talk to the rig on top of everything else.

on the coax question, yes bring more. always bring more. i keep two 25 foot pieces and one 50 foot piece and i still ended up wishing i had more at a marathon comms assignment last spring when they moved the finish line checkpoint on us. the extra weight is worth it.

one thing i completely forgot the first time i deployed was a way to mount the antenna. like i had the wire and the feed point and everything but when i got there i was staring at a parking lot with no trees nearby and nothing to support it. ended up borrowing a push-up mast from another guy. now i keep a small telescoping fiberglass mast and a few tent stakes in the kit, takes up more room but at least i know ill actually have an antenna up.

also headlamp. sounds obvious but yeah. and if your battery has a BMS on it make sure you know how it behaves under load before you need to find out in the field, mine cut out on me once when i keyed up at high power and it freaked me out until i figured out what was happening.