so i've been meaning to do this for like two years and finally sat down last weekend and actually built out a go-kit. i have an FT-857D in a pelican case with a LiFePO4 battery (the 20ah battleborn), a roll of coax, my logging stuff, and a bunch of cables i may or may not ever need. threw in a headlamp and some granola bars too because i felt like it.

im a general class, been licensed about three years but honestly haven't done much emcomm stuff. my county ARES group has been kind of quiet lately so ive mostly just been doing this based on reading and watching other people's setups on youtube.

what i'm not sure about is antennas. i have an EFHW for 40/20 that i like at home but i dont know if thats the right call for a portable kit where i might not have good trees or supports. also wondering if i need a second radio in there or if thats overkill. my wife thinks the whole thing looks like a fishing tackle box explosion which is probably fair.

anyone else been through this process and have stuff they wish they'd included from the start?

the antenna question is the one everyone wrestles with honestly. the EFHW is fine if you have any kind of height but yeah if you end up deployed somewhere with no trees and just a parking lot you'll want options. i carry a buddipole for exactly that reason, it's not perfect but you can get it up on a camera tripod and work with what you've got. some guys swear by a simple resonant dipole on a mast but that's another thing to haul around.

the one thing i noticed was missing from your list - do you have a way to charge that battery if you're out more than a day? small solar panel or a way to plug into a vehicle? the 20ah will last you a good while on receive but if you're transmitting a lot it'll go faster than you expect. i learned that the hard way at a three day deployment after a storm a couple years back, spent half my time babying the battery.

also maybe a laminated quick-reference card for your frequencies and local repeaters. sounds dumb but when things are stressful and you haven't slept you'll be glad it's just sitting there in the lid of the case.

honestly the second radio question depends on what you're planning for. if its just you going somewhere to help out at a shelter or whatever, probably overkill. but if you ever end up as a net control or you want to monitor one freq while working another it makes a lot of sense. i have a little HT velcro'd inside my kit lid just for that, nothing fancy.

your wife is right by the way, every go-kit looks like a tackle box explosion. thats just the natural state of the thing. mine took three iterations before i stopped losing connectors in the bottom of the case every time i opened it.