so ive been meaning to do this for like two years and kept putting it off but after the storms we had last month and our local ARES group got activated i realized i was completely unprepared. like embarrassingly so. showed up with a HT and basically nothing else useful.

so now im actually doing it. got a Pelican-style case from harbor freight, picked up an FT-891 for HF portable work, and i have a little 20ah LiFePO4 battery that should keep me going for a while. also grabbed some coax and a couple different connectors, a basic dipole kit i can string up, and a notebook and pens because apparently power outages mean paper logs again lol.

my question is what do people usually forget or wish they had included. i feel like im probably overlooking something obvious. i know i need better antenna options, thinking maybe a buddipole or just build a few linked dipoles. also not sure how much power cable and adapters to include, anderson powerpole stuff seems like the way to go but i feel like i need to learn more about that whole ecosystem before i commit.

also curious how people handle digital modes in a go-kit. is it worth lugging a laptop or do people use like a raspberry pi setup or something like that. just trying to get a realistic picture of what a functional kit actually looks like vs the fantasy version i have in my head

the thing most people forget is the boring stuff honestly. like a good headlamp, some way to take notes in the dark, extra batteries for anything that takes AA or AAA. you'd be amazed how many times ive been at a served agency event and somebody needs a flashlight and everybody just stares at each other.

for powerpole stuff yeah just commit to it, anderson powerpoles are basically the standard now and once your whole kit is wired up the same way everything just clicks together without drama. get a decent crimper though, dont cheap out on that part.

on the digital modes question, i actually went with a used panasonic toughbook because theyre cheap now and built for field use. but i know guys who swear by the raspberry pi plus a signalink setup and it works fine for winlink and js8call. the laptop just feels more flexible to me for logging and everything else. depends how minimalist you want to go i guess.

one other thing, make sure you actually deploy the kit a few times before you need it for real. i cant stress that enough. i thought mine was dialed in and then the first time i actually set it all up in the field i found like four problems immediately.

oh man the linked dipole idea is great, way underrated for portable work. simple and it actually works. buddipole is nice but theres a lot of fiddling involved when youre trying to set up fast under pressure.

one thing I'd throw in there is a small roll of paracord and some tent stakes, because stringing up any wire antenna without those is a nightmare. also maybe a slingshot or a fishing weight on some fishing line for getting the apex up into a tree if youre not near any support structures. sounds silly but it's saved me more than once.