so ive been licensed for about two years now and i keep telling myself im going to put together a proper go-kit for emergencies and i just... never do it. last hurricane season kind of scared me straight though because we lost power for about four days and i realized my whole setup depends on wall power like an idiot.

anyway im finally doing it. i picked up a used IC-7300 a while back but obviously thats a bit heavy for a portable kit so im thinking about grabbing something like a 7100 or maybe one of the yaesu FT-891s for HF portable. for local stuff i have an old VX-6R which should be fine. the power situation is what im really unsure about though. been looking at lifepo4 batteries, specifically the bioenno ones that people seem to like, but man the prices add up fast when you start adding a decent charger and a way to actually recharge them in the field.

does anyone have a kit they actually deployed for real during an emergency or even just a ARES/RACES activation? curious what you actually ended up using vs what you thought youd need. i feel like im overthinking the radio side and underthinking stuff like logging, antennas, and just basic creature comfort stuff for sitting somewhere for 8 hours

yeah the power side is what gets most people. i went through the same thing a few years ago and honestly the bioenno batteries are solid, i have a 30ah one that i've used on a few ARES activations and it holds up fine for a day of HF operating. the charger they sell with it is decent enough to start with, and i run a small solar panel (just a 50w rigid one) if im going to be out more than a day.

the thing nobody tells you is how much the logging situation matters. i used to just bring a notepad and think that was fine, and then during an actual activation i was trying to juggle the radio, net control check-ins, and scribbling stuff down and it was kind of a mess. i switched to a small cheap laptop with n3fjp on it and it made a huge difference. some guys use a tablet. just something where you can type faster than you can write.

for the antenna i'd suggest just getting comfortable with one good portable antenna before the emergency, not five antennas you've never used. i use a Chameleon MPAS lite and ive set it up enough times that i can do it in the dark basically. thats what you want. dont show up to a deployment figuring out your antenna for the first time.

the FT-891 is a great choice for a go kit imo, lighter than you'd think and runs fine off 12v. i have mine wired directly to an anderson powerpole distribution block which makes swapping power sources really easy. one thing that kind of bit me early on was not having a good way to mount or prop up the radio in a weird operating position, like a folding table in a fire station or whatever. ended up getting one of those small ram mount style setups and it helps a ton.

also dont forget a good headset if you're going to be somewhere noisy. generators, people talking, whatever. i wasted like two activations straining to hear through a speaker before i just started bringing headphones every time.