okay so ive been a ham for about 3 years now and I keep telling myself ill get a proper go-kit together and then life happens and here we are, still with a pile of gear sitting in a tote bin that I call a go-kit but really isnt. after the storms last spring knocked out power for a few days in our county I realized I really need to get serious about this.

what I have right now is my FT-857D, a 40Ah LiFePO4 battery, a cheap solar panel I got off amazon (100W I think), the random wire antenna I usually use for portable ops, some coax, and a basic first aid kit that I threw in there. I also have my HT obviously. been thinking about adding a power distribution setup because right now its all kind of haphazardly connected with anderson powerpoles but not in any organized way.

I guess my real question is — for those of you who do ARES or RACES or just have done actual emergency activations, what do I wish I had that I didn't? like the stuff that seems obvious in hindsight. not looking for a perfect list just want to hear what people have learned the hard way.

the thing that always bites people is logging supplies and documentation — like actual paper logs, pencils (not pens, pens dry out or freeze), and printed copies of your local ARES frequencies and your ICS forms. I know everyone wants to go digital but when everything goes sideways you want paper backup. also a headlamp. sounds dumb but I showed up to a deployment once and was trying to set up in a parking garage at 2am with only my phone light because my headlamp was still sitting on my desk at home.

your power setup sounds pretty solid honestly. the one thing id add is a small power strip or a RigRunner type distribution panel, makes life so much easier when youre tired and stressed and dont want to think about which powerpole goes where. oh and a notebook with your passwords and frequencies written down because your brain stops working correctly after 20 hours of no sleep during an activation, trust me on that one.

food and water lol. seriously though. I went to my first ARES deployment thinking it would be a few hours and it turned into a 14 hour thing and I had nothing with me. granola bars and a water bottle take up almost no space and you will be SO glad they are there. also a change of clothes or at least an extra layer depending on where you are.

on the radio side of things — do you have a way to charge your HT separately from your main battery? and antenna options for VHF/UHF in case your linked repeater is down and you need simplex. a lot of go-kit people focus on HF and forget that most served agency comms are gonna be on VHF locally. not saying your setup is wrong just worth thinking about.