so ive been meaning to do this for probably two years now and after the storm last month knocked out power for four days in our county i finally got serious about it. got a pelican case, my FT-857D, a 40ah lithium battery from bioenno, and a little solar panel. threw in some coax, a few PL-259 connectors, and an anderson powerpole distribution block. pretty sure i have the basics but honestly i feel like im still forgetting something obvious and i wont know until i actually need it and its too late.

I'm mainly going to be running HF for ARES stuff, maybe some local 2m/70cm if needed. not sure if i should duplicate my HT in the kit or just rely on the 857. also debating whether to keep the whole thing in the car all the time or just staged somewhere in the house ready to grab. probably stupid question but figured id ask before i go spend more money on stuff i dont need

the thing that always gets people is the paperwork and reference stuff — like having your frequencies written down on a laminated card, ARES net schedules, ICS forms if you do EMCOMM stuff, that kind of thing. when stuff is actually going wrong your brain does not work the way you think it will and having that stuff printed out is way more useful than you'd expect. also a basic toolkit, not just connectors but a small wrench set, electrical tape, zip ties, maybe a short jumper. i cant tell you how many times ive watched someone show up to a deployment and spend 20 minutes looking for a 10mm to mount an antenna bracket.

on the HT question — yes, bring one, just do it. different band plan, backup if the 857 has a problem, you can hand it off to someone else if you need to. the redundancy is the whole point. and personally i stage mine in the house near the door, not the car, because cars get hot and cold and stuff degrades faster. but thats just me.

im kind of in the same boat as you actually, been slowly building mine out. one thing i added that i didn't think about at first was just like a basic first aid kit and some food/water in a separate bag that lives next to the radio kit. not ham radio stuff obviously but if youre deployed somewhere for 12 hours it matters. also somebody at my radio club told me to put a notepad and a couple pens in there because you end up logging things by hand more than you think.

what antenna are you planning to run? thats the part im still figuring out for mine, i have a linked dipole kit but setting it up by myself is kind of a pain