so I've been a ham for about 3 years now and I keep telling myself I'm going to put together a real go-kit for emergencies and I never actually do it. my county ARES group keeps mentioning it at meetings and I just nod along like yeah yeah I got it handled but honestly I don't. right now my "go-kit" is basically just grabbing my HT off the charger and hoping for the best lol

I was thinking I should probably have at least a mobile rig that can run off something other than the car battery, maybe a little yaesu or icom with a battery pack, and some kind of antenna situation that doesnt require me to find a tree. but beyond that I'm kind of lost on what people actually bring when they deploy for something like ARES activation or even just a bad storm situation. do I need a whole HF setup or is 2m/70cm usually enough for most local emcomm stuff? I dont want to overdo it and end up with a suitcase I can't actually carry anywhere

any advice from people who have actually deployed for real events would be really appreciated, not just the theoretical stuff

oh man this was me like two years ago. okay so first thing — dont try to build the perfect kit all at once or you'll never finish it. I made that mistake and had a half assembled kit sitting on my workbench for like 8 months.

for most local ARES/RACES stuff yeah 2m is going to cover probably 90% of what you need. I run an FT-857D in my kit because it does HF too but honestly in 3 activations I've only actually needed HF once, and that was a pretty unusual situation where the repeater was down. if you're just starting out get a decent 25w or so mobile rig and a good battery — I use a 20ah lifepo4 and it lasts me all day easy — and figure out a simple portable antenna like a roll-up jpole or a mag mount on a small steel plate and you're honestly most of the way there.

the stuff people forget is always the non-radio stuff. headlamp, notepad and pen, printed frequency lists because you cannot count on being able to pull those up on your phone, maybe a small surge strip if you end up at a EOC with power. and food and water for at least a day. nothing worse than being the guy who has to leave an activation because you didn't eat.

the battery question is a big one. I see people show up with these massive marine batteries and then wonder why their back hurts. lifepo4 is lighter and holds up better in heat and cold, worth the money if you can swing it. bioenno makes decent ones and they're not crazy expensive.

also just putting it out there — practice actually setting up your kit before you need it. like time yourself. if it takes you 45 minutes to get on the air that's a problem you want to discover in your driveway not during an actual event.