so ive been meaning to do this for like two years and a windstorm last month that knocked out power for three days finally kicked me in the butt to get serious about it. managed fine with my HT and a spare battery pack but it made me realize how half-baked my setup really was, like I couldn't have done much beyond simplex on the local repeater if things got worse.

what I have so far is a Yaesu FT-891 I picked up last spring, a 20ah LiFePO4 battery, a basic end-fed for HF, and I threw in a small solar panel I had laying around (might be 50w, cant remember the exact rating). packed most of it into a Pelican 1510 case. also have a little notepad, some coax, and my ARRL emergency communication handbook which I honestly havent read cover to cover yet.

the thing is I don't know if im forgetting something obvious. like I feel like theres stuff experienced emcomm folks just assume everyone has but nobody actually lists it out. do I need a dedicated charge controller, is the one built into my solar panel enough? and should I be thinking about VHF/UHF capability too or is HF sufficient for most ARES/RACES type work? genuinely unsure what the priority order should be here

that's actually a pretty solid starting point honestly, better than what a lot of people show up with to training exercises. the FT-891 is a great go-kit radio, runs efficient on battery and the power draw is manageable if you keep tx power reasonable.

the solar panel question depends on what controller is built in — a lot of the cheaper panels dont have a proper charge controller, just a blocking diode, which means you really do want a separate MPPT controller in line, especially with LiFePO4 because the voltage characteristics are different from lead-acid and some controllers dont handle it well. worth checking the docs on whatever battery BMS you have too.

as for VHF/UHF — yeah I'd strongly say yes if you're planning on doing any actual ARES work. most of the tactical local stuff at served agencies, hospitals, EOCs, that's all done on VHF. HF is more for regional or state-level nets when infrastructure is down. so your HT covers that base but you might want a mobile rig or at least a dual band portable with a better antenna option than the rubber duck. i use a slim jim rolled up in my kit and it makes a noticeable difference. the other thing I see people forget is a way to charge their phone off grid, a small USB power bank or the ability to run off the main battery. and waterproofing — bag your antenna feedlines and connectors, learned that one the hard way at a flooded EOC exercise

im kind of in the same boat as you, just started building mine out a few months ago and its a rabbit hole for sure. one thing somebody at my club told me that I thought was smart — dont just build the kit, actually practice deploying it. like time yourself, see if you can actually get on the air in under 10 minutes from a cold start because thats sort of the benchmark they told me to shoot for at our ARES group. I had stuff packed but had never actually set it up outside until one Saturday morning and realized my coax connectors were in the wrong pocket and I had no idea where my frequency reference card was. kinda embarrassing but better to find that out at home than during an actual activation