so ive been meaning to do this for like two years now and after the storms we had last month kind of kicked me in the pants about it. i put together what i thought was a decent go-kit but honestly im not sure if i forgot something obvious. right now i have my FT-857D, a 40ah lifepo4 battery with a little solar panel that clips to the outside of the bag, some coax, my jumper cables and a few connectors. also threw in a laminated card with local repeater freqs and some simplex channels we use for ARES stuff.

my antenna situation is kind of weak though, just a mag mount i borrowed from my mobile setup. been thinking about getting a buddistick or something i can actually deploy without needing a vehicle nearby. also realized i dont have any kind of logging setup that doesnt rely on my laptop which has maybe 3 hours of battery on a good day.

anyone been doing this longer than me have stuff they always forget to pack until something actually happens? feel like im overlooking something dumb

the antenna thing is exactly what gets people. mag mounts are fine if youre always gonna be next to your truck but the second you need to set up inside a shelter or somewhere without metal around youre kind of stuck. i use a homebrew EFHW for HF stuff and just a simple roll-up jpole from a piece of 450 ohm ladder line for the 2m/70cm side. both fit in basically no space and you can throw them over anything. took me maybe an afternoon to build both and cost almost nothing.

for logging honestly i just keep a waterproof notepad and some pens. like three pens because pens disappear. i know some guys run a tablet but you're just adding another thing that needs charging. paper doesnt care about your battery situation.

one thing i dont see you mention is a headlamp with extra batteries. sounds dumb but when youre trying to adjust coax connections in the dark at 2am it matters a lot. also a copy of your license and any ARES ID stuff if your group does that.

im pretty new to all this myself so take this for what its worth but i went through a similar process a few months back and the thing that surprised me was how fast the small stuff adds up weight wise. like i thought i had a nice compact kit and then i actually weighed it and it was almost 30 pounds before i even added food or water for myself.

the solar panel idea is smart though, i keep meaning to add one to mine. right now i just have a second battery and hope for the best lol. also someone at our club meeting mentioned keeping a printed copy of the ARRL band plan and some basic operating procedures because under stress you sometimes go blank on stuff you totally know normally. sounds overly cautious but honestly not a bad call