so ive been a ham for about 3 years now and honestly embarrassed to say i dont have any kind of go-kit or emergency setup at all. been meaning to do it forever and then last month we had a pretty bad storm come through and i was completely useless — couldnt do anything because all my gear is just sort of scattered around the shack and none of it is ready to grab and go.

so im finally taking it seriously. i have an ft-857d which i know is kind of the classic choice for portable ops, and a few handhelds (a baofeng and an older icom). my question is really more about the non-radio stuff — like how do you actually organize it? do you use a specific bag or case, and how do you handle power? i was thinking a small lithium battery pack but i have no idea what capacity i actually need for a real deployment that might last a few days. also do most people keep a full antenna kit in there or just a simple wire antenna?

i looked at some youtube videos but they all seem like either way overkill (guy has a pelican case the size of a small car) or way too minimal to actually be useful. just looking for what real people actually use day to day for their emcomm stuff.

ha the pelican case the size of a car thing is so real, ive seen those setups and its like okay yes that looks cool but you are not hauling that anywhere in an actual emergency

for what its worth i went through the same thing a couple years back. ended up with a mid-size rolling toolbox from harbor freight — not glamorous but it holds everything and has wheels. for the 857 i keep it mounted in a small rack tray so i can pull it out and set it up without having to dig through cables. power-wise im running a 20ah lifepo4 battery from bioenno, which for vhf/uhf work will last me a couple days easy, but if youre doing a lot of hf with the 857 at higher power you might want something bigger or just keep the power down.

the wire antenna thing — honestly just throw a linked dipole kit in there, takes up almost no space and you can work almost any band you need. i also keep a j-pole rolled up in there for vhf. the antenna situation is really where people overthink it i think. simple works.

one thing i'd actually say is more important than any of the gear is making sure you have a checklist laminated inside the bag. when things get chaotic you dont want to be trying to remember if you packed the coax connectors.

been doing ARES stuff for about 12 years and the biggest thing i tell new folks is dont try to build the perfect kit all at once. you end up spending a lot of money and then realizing half the stuff doesnt work together or you packed things you'd never actually need in your actual served area.

figure out what your local ARES or RACES group actually needs first. around here its almost all vhf/uhf packet and voice relay, so a go-kit thats heavy on hf capability isnt really what i need for local deployments. might be totally different where you are. your EC or the local group probably has some kind of standard or at least a recommendation.

for power — and this is just my opinion — i'd rather have two smaller batteries than one huge one. if one goes bad you still have something, and its easier to manage charging. i use two 12ah lifepo4 packs and a small solar panel that fits in the lid of my bag for longer deployments.

also: practice setting the whole thing up in your backyard before you actually need it. timed yourself once and realized i was taking 25 minutes to get on the air which is way too long. worked out the kinks and now i can be up in about 8.