so ive been a ham for about 3 years now and honestly I keep telling myself ill put together a real go-kit but never actually do it. well after the storms we had last month knocked out power for like 4 days I decided to stop procrastinating. got a Pelican 1510 case and an FT-817ND I picked up used, and I'm thinking a small lithium battery pack, some coax, and my j-pole for 2m/70cm. also grabbed a little spiral notebook and some pens because I kept forgetting you actually need something to log with when your laptop is dead lol.

my question is what does everyone else keep in theirs that I might be forgetting? I feel like there's always that one thing you dont think about until you actually need it and its not there. I've seen some really elaborate setups online but I dont want to overdo it and end up with a 60 pound kit that never leaves the closet.

also wondering about HF vs just sticking to VHF/UHF for local stuff. I'm only tech right now but thinking about upgrading just for the extra flexibility in an actual emergency.

the thing that gets people most often is power — not just having a battery but knowing how long it'll actually last under real conditions. like do you know your 817's draw on receive vs transmit? worth measuring that before you need it. i keep a small DC watt meter in my kit just for sanity checking.

other stuff people forget: a headlamp (not just a flashlight, you need your hands free), a copy of your local ARES/RACES frequencies on paper because you wont always have internet to look them up, and honestly a small roll of electrical tape has saved me more than once. also some kind of antenna support — even a cheap telescoping painter's pole works, you'd be surprised how often there's nowhere good to hang a wire.

and yes get your General, seriously. having HF capability when local repeaters go down or get overwhelmed is huge. the 817 you have is already a great HF rig once you upgrade.

oh man i went through this exact thing last year. one thing i totally overlooked was food and water for myself — like i had this beautifully organized radio kit and then realized if I'm actually deployed somewhere for 12 hours im going to be starving and useless. some granola bars and a water bottle sounds dumb but it matters.

also a spare fuse kit. the little blade fuse kit from any auto parts store. i blew a fuse once and had to borrow one from somebody's car which was embarrassing. and if your battery has anderson powerpole connectors already great, if not thats worth doing now rather than in the field with cold fingers.

your instinct about not going overboard is right though. i've seen guys show up to exercises with basically a rack mount server situation and they spend the first hour setting up instead of actually being useful.