so ive been meaning to do this for like two years now and after the storms we had last month i finally got serious about it. got a pelican case, my FT-857D, a small switching power supply, and a roll of coax. threw in a logbook and some pens. feels like im definitely missing something obvious but i cant quite put my finger on it.

the plan is mostly to be able to operate HF and maybe 2m if needed from anywhere, either running off shore power if available or off a battery. i do have a 40ah LiFePO4 i was going to toss in there. antenna situation is kind of up in the air still, was thinking just a EFHW with a 9:1 unun and some paracord to throw it up in a tree.

anyone else gone through this process? what did you end up wishing you had in the first week of actually needing it

the thing everyone forgets is documentation. like printed documentation. frequencies, repeater info for your area, your nets, ARES contact numbers, ICS forms if you do any served agency stuff. your phone dies or gets lost and suddenly you cant remember what the local 2m simplex calling freq is and youre useless. i laminated mine and stuck them in a folder inside the lid of the case.

also adapters. BNC to PL-259, a few different power connectors, anderson powerpoles if you dont already have everything wired up with those. i cant tell you how many times ive shown up somewhere and the power situation was not what i expected. oh and a headlamp. sounds dumb but seriously just put one in there now and forget about it.

EFHW with paracord is exactly what i use, works great for portable. just make sure you have enough wire, i think i cut mine a little short the first time and tuning was a pain. also maybe throw a small manual antenna tuner in there even if the 857 has a built in one, just for flexibility.

one thing i added late that i really like is a small notebook dedicated just to the go-kit with a checklist on the first page so when i grab it in a hurry i can run through it quick. nothing worse than getting somewhere and realizing you left the power cable or forgot to charge the battery last week or whatever