so our ARES group has a county-wide exercise coming up and im trying to figure out the best way to power everything without killing myself hauling gear across a field. we're setting up a temporary EOC-style station at the fairgrounds, probably running for 6-8 hours straight. i've got a IC-7300 and a separate VHF/UHF setup running simultaneously so we're not talking tiny current draw here.

right now my plan is to bring my Honda EU2200i paired with a 100ah LiFePO4 battery so the generator can charge while we operate and then we shut it off when noise gets bad or when we need quiet for net ops. but ive been second guessing whether to just go full battery and skip the generator entirely. i've done the math loosely and think i can get through 6 hours on the battery if i'm smart about duty cycle on HF but it gets tight if somone else is hammering the radio the whole time.

antenna side i'm planning a trapped vertical for HF since we dont have great options for supports at this site, and a jpole up on a painters pole for 2m. last time we tried a dipole it was a whole ordeal with the rope and trees so i want something i can stand up fast. anyone run a similar field setup and have opinions on the generator vs battery thing specifically? the noise issue is real, ive picked up ignition noise from those small generators before even with a line filter.

the EU2200i is pretty clean as far as those inverter gennys go but yeah you'll still get some noise into the radio if you're not careful. i run mine with about 30 feet of cord between the genny and the station and a ferrite choke on the power lead right at the rig and its mostly manageable on HF. the bigger issue i've had is people walking near it and picking up their footsteps on audio somehow, probably ground loop stuff i never fully sorted out.

for a 6-8 hour exercise with two rigs running i wouldnt try to do it on battery alone unless your 100ah is genuinely 100ah usable and not some optimistic rating. LiFePO4 you can usually trust the numbers but still, two radios plus logging computer if you have one plus lighting if it runs into evening... it adds up fast. i'd keep the generator as your backup charger and run off battery primary, exactly what you described. that way you get the quiet ops most of the time and dont have a dead station if something drains faster than expected.

trapped vertical should be fine for an exercise, dont overthink the antenna for a one day thing.

we did almost exactly this setup at our simulated emergency test back in spring. ended up going with a 40m fan dipole instead of a vertical because we found a decent tree line but i know that's not always an option. the painters pole j-pole thing is honestly great for county-level stuff, fast to get up and works fine for the ARES nets we normally run.

one thing i'll throw out there - if you're worried about genny noise look into a good common mode choke on the coax too not just the power line. we had some weirdness last year that turned out to be RF getting back in through the feedline and causing all kinds of noise that we thought was the generator. took us embarrasingly long to figure out. also if you have access to a second battery it might be worth bringing it just for peace of mind, they're not that heavy if you have a cart.