so ive been slowly putting together a go-kit for the past few months and i think im getting close to something actually usable. running an IC-7300 which i know is kind of heavy for field work but its what i have and im comfortable with it. antenna wise ive got a buddipole set up which works okay but im always messing with the settings for different bands, and a linked dipole i threw together from some zip cord that honestly works just as well most of the time if i can find two trees.

the power situation is where im still figuring things out. right now im using a 40ah lifepo4 battery from bioenno and it handles receive just fine but when i start transmitting at 100w it drops pretty fast, especially if im doing any kind of sustained traffic. ive been looking at adding a small generator for backup - was thinking either a honda eu2200 or one of the cheaper predator inverter gens from harbor freight. the honda is obviously the gold standard but thats a big price difference and for occasional emcomm use im not sure its worth it.

anyone running a similar setup or have opinions on the predator vs honda thing? also curious if people think i should just get a second battery instead of a gen for most situations. the gen feels like overkill unless im deployed for more than a few hours but idk

the predator 2000 is actually pretty solid for the price, ive used one for a couple of field days and a few SET exercises and no real complaints. the main thing i noticed is it runs a bit louder than the honda but in a real deployment situation thats probably not a dealbreaker unless youre trying to be quiet for some reason. RF noise was fine with my 7300 as long as i kept the coax away from the generator and used a decent power filter on the line.

that said your instinct about a second battery isnt wrong. if youre only out for 3-4 hours a 40ah lifepo4 at 100w SSB should be okay if your duty cycle isnt crazy, but having a second pack you can swap is way simpler than hauling a gen and fuel. i run two 30ah packs now and the generator just stays in the truck unless i know its gonna be an all-day thing or longer. the gen is really for overnight or multi-day stuff when you actually need to recharge everything.

yeah the buddipole tuning thing is real, i gave up on mine for quick deployments and just use EFHW wires now, throw one end over whatever and done. way less fussing. anyway on the generator question the honda eu2200 is genuinely quieter and runs forever on a tank but man the price difference is hard to justify if you arent using it constantly. i dont have personal time on the predator so cant say for sure but ive heard mixed things about QRM from the cheaper inverter gens, might depend on the individual unit or how your filtering is set up.

one thing to look at is whether your 7300 draw is really that bad - at 100w output its pulling maybe 20-22 amps on peaks but SSB voice average duty cycle is way less than that, more like 25-30% if youre not yelling into the mic. so your 40ah pack probably has more runtime than you think if youre not running digital modes or something with high duty cycle