so ive been a ham for about 3 years now and I keep telling myself im going to put together a proper go-kit and then life gets in the way. well after watching what happened to some folks in the county over during that ice storm last february I finally got serious about it.

right now I have an FT-891 I was thinking of using as the main rig, a 40ah lithium battery I picked up last year, and a random wire antenna with a tuner. I also threw in a notebook and some pencils because apparently that's old school but also apparently it matters when the grid goes down.

what I dont have figured out yet is the power connections — I have a bunch of anderson powerpole stuff but I havent actually wired everything up cleanly yet. and I keep going back and forth on whether I need a second HT in there or if thats overkill for one person. also not sure about the case situation, I see guys with these beautiful pelican cases and I see guys with rubbermaid tubs and honestly both seem to work.

is there a checklist someone swears by or is it more just figure out what you actually need for your situation? I feel like I keep reading conflicting advice online.

the powerpole wiring is honestly the thing that held up my go-kit the longest too, I kept putting it off and then one day just sat down and did it all in an afternoon and wondered why I waited so long. get yourself a decent powerpole crimper if you dont have one already, the cheap ones are frustrating.

on the HT question — I do keep one in my kit and its saved me more than once just for local repeater traffic when I needed both hands free or wanted someone else to monitor a frequency while I was operating HF. doesnt have to be anything fancy. my spare is literally a BF-F8HP I got years ago that I dont use for anything else anymore.

rubbermaid tub is totally fine by the way. the pelican cases look great but unless you're getting rained on regularly or checking bags on an airplane I think people overthink the case thing. the real stuff that matters is whether your kit actually works when you pull it out six months later — so plug everything in occasionally, run it for an hour or two, make sure the battery is still holding charge. that's the part most people skip.

dont forget something to write frequencies and net schedules down with, like a laminated card or something. I had all that stuff memorized and then one time during an actual activation my brain just went blank lol. also a small headlamp, sounds dumb but 2am in a parking lot its not dumb at all.