so ive been meaning to do this for literally two years and after the last storm knocked out power for four days i finally got serious about it. put together what i think is a decent go-kit but im sure ive forgotten something obvious because thats how these things go

right now i have my FT-891 in a harbor freight case with a 40ah lifepo4 battery, a cheap PWRgate knockoff for power distribution, resonant dipole for 40m that i can string up between whatever trees or poles are around, coax, a handful of SO239 adapters, my logging notebook and pens, headlamp with extra batteries, a roll of electrical tape and some zip ties. also threw in a copy of my license and my ARES contact sheet.

been doing some reading and i keep seeing people mention stuff like a ground rod which i hadnt really thought about, and also some kind of antenna analyzer maybe? not sure if thats overkill for a kit or if its actually useful in the field when youre trying to figure out why something isnt resonating the way it should. also wondering if i should have a second radio in there, like a handheld at minimum, just to have a local vhf option while the HF is running.

anyway if any of you have gone through this process and found something you really wish you'd had when you actually deployed, id love to hear it. trying to not learn that lesson the hard way

the HT is a really good call, i wouldnt skip it. during our last ARES activation we had guys who could only reach the repeater and that was honestly fine for half the nets we were running. something like a BF-F8HP or even just your everyday VX-6 is small enough to toss in without adding much weight and it gives you flexibility if the HF setup isnt cooperating.

ground rod is worth having, especially if you end up operating near a lot of RF noise at a site you dont know. i keep a 4 foot copper rod and a small rubber mallet in mine. takes 30 seconds to pound in and it actually does make a difference sometimes. also i would add a small notepad with your most common frequencies already written out, simplex calling freqs, your local ARES net freq, maybe a few NVIS frequencies depending on your region. sounds dumb but when its 2am and youre tired you dont want to be digging through memory channels trying to remember if its 3.915 or 3.925

antenna analyzer is nice but i wouldnt call it essential for a go-kit, honestly. if your dipole is cut right and youre deploying it the same way each time you probably already know where its gonna land. a cheap SWR meter is smaller and covers most field situations fine.

dont forget food and water lol. sounds obvious but i showed up to a six hour deployment once with nothing and was absolutely miserable by hour three. now i keep a couple cliff bars and a small water bottle in the kit as kind of a rule. also a basic first aid kit, nothing fancy, just band-aids and advil, some sites actually require you to have one.

your setup honestly sounds pretty solid for what it is. the one thing id maybe think about is some kind of weatherproofing for the connectors if youre operating outside in the rain, even just some self amalgamating tape. lost like an hour once troubleshooting what turned out to be water in a PL-259