so I've been meaning to do this for like two years and last month's windstorm that knocked out power for three days was kind of the wake up call I needed. been a ham for about six years, mostly HF ragchewing and some local 2m stuff, but never really got serious about being actually prepared for anything.

here's where I'm at right now — I grabbed a Pelican 1510 case and I've got my FT-891 in there along with a LiFePO4 battery (30ah), a cheap solar panel, some coax, my logbook, pens, the usual. also threw in a copy of the local ARES net frequencies and my NIMS certs.

my question is more like... what do people actually reach for when things go sideways that they didnt think to pack ahead of time? I feel like I'm missing something obvious and I wont know until I actually need it and it's not there. been reading a lot of threads about go-kits but most of them feel like they were written to sell you something, you know?

also not sure if I should have a separate VHF/UHF capability in the kit or just rely on the HF. the 891 covers 6m which helps a little. thoughts?

the thing that always bites people is the little stuff, not the radio gear. like adapters. SO-239 to BNC, BNC to SMA, whatever random connector the situation throws at you. I keep a small ziplock bag with probably eight different coax adapters and I've used at least four of them in actual deployments. also a short 6 inch patch cable because sometimes you're connecting two pieces of gear that are literally right next to each other and your shortest coax is still six feet long and it's just a mess.

on the VHF/UHF question — yes, get something in there. a cheap Baofeng or even an older HT you have laying around. HF is great but when you're doing local served agency stuff or coordinating with a hospital or EOC, everyone's on 2m. the 891 doing 6m helps for some things but it's not the same. I run a little Yaesu FT-65 in a side pouch just for local coordination and it's paid for itself a dozen times over in terms of not fumbling with the main rig.

one more thing — food and water. not for the radio, for you. sounds dumb but I've sat at a deployment for 11 hours once and the only thing I had was a granola bar I found in my jacket pocket. pack some snacks, a water bottle, maybe a headlamp if you don't already have one in there. you'll thank yourself.

honestly the best advice I ever got was to actually deploy the kit before you need it. like set it up in the backyard on a saturday and run it for a few hours like it's real. you'll find out real fast what you forgot — I discovered my solar panel connector didn't match anything in my kit the first time I did that, which would've been a real problem if I found out during an actual event lol.

the LiFePO4 choice is solid btw, good call on that over a regular AGM. 30ah should get you through a decent stretch depending on how hard you're running the rig.