so ive been licensed for about two years now and kept telling myself id get a proper go-kit together and just... never did. well after the storms we had last month and watching a few of the local emcomm guys show up with these really organized setups i finally decided to stop procrastinating.

the thing is i dont really know what the baseline should be. like i have an FT-891 that i use at home and a Baofeng UV-5R as a handheld but beyond that im kind of guessing. do people usually build around one radio or have separate HF and VHF/UHF setups in the kit? and whats the deal with power - most guys i saw were using LiFePO4 batteries but those arent cheap. is a decent AGM deep cycle good enough to start or am i just going to regret it later and end up buying the lithium anyway

also wondering about antennas. i have an EFHW i built last year that works great at home but its kind of a pain to set up solo in the field. not sure if i should look at something more portable or just get used to deploying it faster.

any advice from people who actually use their kits would be appreciated, not just theoretical stuff if possible

I went through this exact same process a few years back and honestly the best advice I can give is start simple and actually deploy it before you need it. like go set it up in your backyard a couple times, figure out whats annoying, then fix those things. you'll learn more from one actual practice run than from any amount of planning.

on the battery question - I started with a 35ah AGM in a Pelican case and it worked fine for SOTA style stuff and short activations but I did eventually move to LiFePO4 mainly because of the weight difference. if money is tight the AGM is totally fine to get going. Bioenno and Dakota Lithium seem to be what a lot of guys around here run.

for the antenna I'd maybe look at a buddistick or a SOTA beams linked dipole for field use, something you can throw up fast. your EFHW isn't going anywhere it's a great antenna but yeah solo setup can be slow especially if you're stressed during an actual event. having two antenna options isnt crazy either.

also check if your local ARES group does any SET exercises or go-kit contests, that's honestly the fastest way to figure out what's missing from your setup because you're comparing notes with other operators on the spot

the lithium vs AGM thing is real but dont stress it too much at first. I ran a 33ah AGM for like three years and it did everything I needed. the weight is annoying if youre carrying it far but if its staying in the car most of the time its nbd.

one thing nobody told me when i was starting out - label everything. like every cable, every adapter, every piece of coax. sounds dumb but when youre tired at 2am trying to get a station up for a deployment your brain just stops working and labels save you. also keep a laminated card in the kit with your basic freqs for the local nets and the ARES simplex channels, again sounds obvious but future you will thank you.

your FT-891 is a solid choice for a go kit radio by the way, runs well on 12v and doesnt pull crazy current on receive