so i've been licensed for about two years now and i keep hearing people talk about go-kits at our club meetings and i always nod along like i know what im doing but honestly i've never actually put one together. last month there was a pretty bad storm in our area and our county ARES group got activated and i just kind of sat at home feeling useless because if i had shown up i wouldn't have had any of my stuff organized or ready to go.

anyway that was kind of a wake up call. i want to put something together that's actually useful and not just a bag full of random cables and a radio i grabbed off the shelf. i have a Yaesu FT-891 which i use mostly for HF at home, and a couple of handhelds. what do i actually need in one of these things? power is the part that confuses me the most — like how much battery do i need, do i need a solar panel situation, how long should i be able to operate without any external power? i have no idea what a realistic activation even looks like in terms of hours.

any thoughts from people who have actually done this stuff would be really helpful. i dont want to over-engineer it but i also dont want to show up somewhere with a dead battery and no way to charge it

oh man i remember being exactly where you are, it feels overwhelming at first but once you start breaking it down it gets a lot more manageable. the storm activation thing is actually a really common push that gets people to finally do it so good on you for taking it seriously.

for power, the way i think about it is plan for at least 12 hours of operation without any external source, and if you can do 24 thats even better. a 30-40Ah LiFePO4 battery will get you pretty far depending on your transmit duty cycle — the 891 draws maybe 20A on transmit but you're not transmitting constantly so real world consumption is way lower than the rated draw. i run a 50Ah battery in my kit and i've gone through full weekend exercises without needing to touch my solar panel. speaking of which, even a small 50-100W panel is worth having just to top things off if you're deployed somewhere with sun, you don't have to run everything off it.

the other thing i'd say — and this is maybe more important than the exact gear — is write down your frequencies, your local nets, any tactical frequencies your ARES group uses, and put that sheet laminated inside the bag. sounds obvious but when you're tired and stressed you'll be glad you don't have to remember it. also make sure whoever runs your ARES group knows you want to get activated, sometimes they just don't know who's available and ready.

dont overthink the bag itself too much to start. i made that mistake and spent more time buying pelican cases and labeling things than actually practicing getting on the air quickly. the best go kit is the one you actually know how to set up in the dark under pressure lol. just practice deploying it in your backyard a few times before any real event.