so ive been meaning to do this for like two years and after the storms last month i figured i really need to stop procrastinating. started pulling stuff together for a basic go-kit and i think i have the radio side covered — got my FT-857D, a few different antennas, coax, power cables, all that. running it off a 40ah LiFePO4 battery with a small solar panel for recharging.

what im not sure about is all the other stuff. like the non-radio stuff. i know i need logging sheets and pens, a copy of my license obviously, frequencies list for the local nets and repeaters. but then i started thinking about what happens if im deployed somewhere for like 12-18 hours and i realized i dont really have a plan for any of the comfort or logistics stuff. food, water, rain gear, that kind of thing.

also not sure how to organize it all physically. right now its kind of spread across two bins and a backpack and its a mess. anyone who actually does emcomm deployments have advice on how they have it set up? or what they wish theyd thought of before their first real activation?

the thing that got me on my first deployment was lighting. i had everything radio-wise dialed in but it was dark in the EOC and i couldnt see my logging sheets properly. now i keep a small LED headlamp AND a little desk lamp in the kit. sounds obvious in hindsight.

for organization i switched to a pelican case for the radio gear and then a separate soft bag for the personal stuff. keeps it clean and the pelican stacks nicely if youre loading into a vehicle. i also laminated my freq list because paper gets wrecked fast when its humid or raining, learned that the hard way at a flood response a few years back.

honestly the comfort stuff matters more than people think. after hour 8 of sitting at a table your back is done. i throw a small seat cushion in now, sounds ridiculous but i dont regret it. also snacks that dont make a mess, granola bars not chips. and a portable battery bank for your phone separate from the radio power system — you dont want to be draining your main battery because your personal phone is dying.

im pretty new to all this but i just finished my ARES sign-up and our EC actually gave us a recommended list which i can share if you want. one thing he kept emphasizing was having a printed ICS-213 message form or whatever the served agency uses, because not every place will have them and showing up ready makes you look way more professional apparently.

i havent done a real activation yet so take my advice with a grain of salt but the go-kit class i took said to test everything together before you need it, like actually set it all up in your yard and run it for a few hours. that way you find out your power connector is slightly loose or whatever before its an actual emergency.