so our ARES group has a county-level exercise coming up and im trying to figure out the best way to do sustained HF ops from a trailer we're setting up as the net control station. we've done this before but always kind of winged it and this time the EC wants something more thought through.

right now the plan is a Yaesu FT-991A as the main rig, running into a Chameleon MPAS Lite vertical because its quick to deploy and doesnt need radials which matters when we're on a parking lot surface. we had a dipole situation a couple years back and the feedline ran across a walkway and it was just a mess. anyway the vertical has worked okay but ive always felt like we were leaving signal on the table especially on 40m.

the power side is what im really unsure about. we have a Honda EU2200i and it runs fine but i get a little nervous running the radio off a generator directly even through a power conditioner. last exercise one of the other guys had some nasty noise on receive that we traced back to a cheap inverter somewhere nearby. our generator is pretty clean but still. thinking about using a pair of 100ah LiFePO4 batteries as the primary and having the generator float them through a decent charger rather than running everything directly off the genny. that way if the generator has to cycle off or gets moved we dont lose ops continuity. does that actually make sense or am i overcomplicating it

also curious what other groups are using for antenna support. we have some MFJ fiberglass poles and a couple painters poles duct taped together situation which is embarrassing honestly

the battery buffer idea is exactly the right call and not overcomplicating it at all. we've been doing basically that for two years now with a pair of battleborn 100ah cells and a Victron IP67 charger running off the honda. the Victron handles absorption and float properly so you're not cooking the batteries and the rig just sees clean stable voltage the whole time regardless of what the genny is doing. biggest thing is make sure your charger output can actually keep pace with your draw if you're running the 991 at 50w or so on SSB, you're pulling maybe 10-12A average depending on duty cycle, so a 20-30A charger keeps you net positive most of the time.

on the antenna thing, we switched to a Spiderbeam HD pole, the 12m version, and its been solid. pricey but it doesnt flex like crazy in wind and breaks down into a manageable bag. the painters pole duct tape engineering is a proud ham tradition but yeah probably not ideal for a formal exercise where someone from the county EOC might be watching

yeah the noise from nearby inverters is a real thing, had that bite us at a public service event, took forever to figure out it wasnt even our gear. your buffered battery plan sounds solid.

one thing id mention on the Chameleon vertical for 40m, have you tried counterpoise wires even on pavement? i know it says no radials needed but in my experience on lower bands laying out even 2 or 3 quarter wave wires flat on the ground still helps noticeably. doesnt have to be buried or anything. might get you some of that signal you feel like youre missing without swapping the whole antenna setup