so we've got a countywide ARES exercise coming up saturday and im trying to figure out the best way to power everything without relying on shore power. our IC-7300 pulls about 22A at full talk power and ive been going back and forth on whether to just bring my honda eu2200i or try to run off a pair of 100ah lifepo4 batteries with a dc-dc setup.

the thing is the generator is obviously more reliable for long duration stuff but we're supposed to be simulating an actual grid-down scenario and having a gas generator kind of feels like cheating? like yes it works but it defeats the purpose of proving we can operate independently for 12+ hours without resupply. on the other hand the batteries are heavy as hell and ive never actually run the math on whether they'd last a full operational period with the radio plus a laptop and a few accesories.

also antenna wise im leaning toward my buddipole set up as a dipole on a 10m jackite pole but last time i did that in any wind over 15mph it was a nightmare to keep stable. anyone running something more portable that still gets decent results on 40/80 for local emcomm work? the endfed half wave has been tempting but i dont know anyone locally whos used one in a real exercise.

the battery math isnt that bad once you sit down with it. 200ah at 12v is 2400 watt-hours, and your 7300 at say 50w output is pulling maybe 12-13A receive, 22A transmit - if youre doing typical net traffic the duty cycle is probably 20-30% transmit so call it an average of 14-15A. thats like 13-14 hours before you're at 50% SoC on the lifepo4 which is where you want to stop drawing. add a laptop at 3-4A and some accessories and youre probably looking at 10-11 hours comfortable.

personally i'd still bring the honda as a backup. not to run continuously but just to top off if the exercise goes long or you need to spin up digital modes and the duty cycle spikes. having it there doesnt mean youre cheating, it means youre a competent operator who planned for contingencies. the evaluators usually care more about whether your comms worked than whether you stayed off fossil fuel the whole time.

for the antenna - ditch the buddipole in wind and just run a simple inverted-V off the jackite. two radials staked out, point the feedline toward the ground, way more stable and honestly comparable performance on 40. 80 you might need to extend the legs pretty long but it works.

ive been using an EFHW for field work for a couple years now and honestly cant go back to the buddipole for portable stuff. the 49:1 unun versions are cheap to build and if you throw 40ft up in a tree and the rest along the ground it tunes up pretty well on 40 and 80 with the 7300's internal tuner. not perfect but good enough for emergency comm distances.

one thing nobody mentions - the coax run matters a lot in field setups. i see guys trying to save weight by using RG-58 for a long run and then wondering why their signal sounds weird. just use a short run of decent coax or put the radio right at the base of the antenna feedpoint if you can swing it.