so i've been meaning to do this for literally two years and kept putting it off, you know how it is. finally sat down last weekend and actually built out a proper go-kit and man there were so many little things i hadnt thought about.

started with an old Pelican knockoff case i had sitting around, threw in my FT-857D and a LiFePO4 battery, figured that was basically it. then i started thinking about what happens if i actually have to deploy somewhere and... yeah. no mic cable, forgot the power poles were on a different harness, no coax adapters, antenna was in the shack not in the kit. basically none of the stuff that actually makes it work.

ended up spending like 4 hours just inventorying what i needed versus what i had. now i have a laminated checklist zip-tied to the inside lid which feels a little overkill but honestly its the only way im gonna remember everything when its 2am and theres a tornado warning.

anyone else go through this process? curious what stuff people always forget. i feel like theres probably one thing i keep overlooking and just havent needed it yet.

the power connectors thing gets everyone. i had my whole kit 'ready' for almost a year before i realized my jump cables were a different gauge than what the radio wanted and i'd have had a bad time. also -- and this sounds dumb -- i forgot a headlamp for like 6 months. deploying at night into a shelter with no power and you're trying to read the back of a radio... yeah.

the laminated checklist is not overkill at all, our ARES group actually requires one for registered go-kits. we also do a 'shake the kit' drill every few months where someone pulls the kit without warning and you have 20 minutes to be on-air from a parking lot. really exposes what you thought you had versus what you actually packed.

omg yes the coax adapters. i had this moment during a real activation where i needed a BNC to SO-239 and just... didnt have one. borrowed one from another op but it was embarassing. now i have like a small ziplock bag of every adapter combo i can think of and it lives in the kit permanently. also spare fuses, always spare fuses, learned that one the hard way too lol