so ive been meaning to do this for like two years and after the last storm knocked out power for three days in our area i finally got off my butt and actually assembled something resembling a go-kit. i want to share what i did but also genuinely want feedback because im not sure i thought through all of it.

started with an old Pelican case i had sitting in the garage, threw in my Yaesu FT-891 which i know is maybe overkill for a lot of people but i already owned it and it covers HF so i figured why not. got a LiFePO4 battery from bioenno, the 20ah one, with a PWRcheck so i can monitor voltage. added some coax, a roll of wire for a field expedient antenna, my logging notebook, a few pens, a laminated copy of the ARES net frequencies for our county, and some velcro to keep things from rattling around.

what i did NOT think about until literally yesterday is that i have no way to actually charge the battery if im deployed for more than a day. i dont have a solar panel set up with it and i just kind of assumed i'd... figure it out i guess. also realized my coax connectors are all PL-259 but i dont have an adapter for the SO-239 on the radio and the BNC stuff i sometimes use. so thats a mess waiting to happen.

anyway if anyone has done this longer than me and wants to tell me what i missed or what turned out to be useless in practice that would be great. i feel like i overthought some stuff and completely spaced on other obvious things.

the solar thing is a real gotcha and almost everyone figures that out the hard way. i'd look at a folding 50-100w panel, something that can pair with a small charge controller and feed right into that LiFePO4. Bioenno actually sells chargers that play nice with their batteries and some of the folding Jackery-style panels will run them fine too. for a 20ah battery you dont need anything massive, a sunny afternoon should get you most of the way back up.

the adapter situation is honestly just worth throwing a little ziplock bag of miscellaneous PL/BNC/SMA adapters in the case. they weigh nothing and it has saved me more than once when i showed up somewhere expecting one thing and found another. i think i grabbed a mixed pack off Amazon for like eight bucks years ago and it's lived in my kit ever since.

one thing i'd add that nobody seems to mention until you actually need it -- some kind of lighting. even a small headlamp in the case because if you're operating at night or in a shelter situation staring at radio controls in the dark is miserable. sounds obvious but it was not in my first kit either.

honestly your kit sounds way more thought out than mine was when i first put one together lol. mine was basically a radio in a backpack with a power strip that required shore power so... not exactly emergency ready.

the charging question is a good one. im still figuring out solar myself but ive seen guys at our local ARES meetings use those goal zero panels and they seem to work okay. not the cheapest option but they're pretty foolproof which matters when things are chaotic.

also random thing -- do you have a copy of your license in the kit? i know you dont technically have to carry it but if youre operating somewhere unfamiliar or alongside served agencies it can just smooth things over to have it handy. i keep a laminated copy with mine now.