I’ve been considering throwing together a much more “formal” go kit… Last year I participated in more than 20 public service events in a direct support or logistics role. Most ARES/RACES/ACS/REACT Go-Kits seem to be aimed towards the ultimate preparedness role. I’m not necessarily looking for the trunk full of gear to carry around with me all the time (Russ…) but at the same time, I’d like to have it large enough to have a fairly decent amount of equipment to handle most situations.
Requirements for my “Hasty” kit:
- Small enough to throw in the back seat of my vehicle
- Ability to operate for a full day without leaving the assigned area for power/batteries
- Enough RF power to be able to operate on fringe repeaters and simplex from inside a building
- Not breaking the bank!
First and foremost is the venerable Handheld VHF or Dual Band Radio. I personally carry a Yaesu FT-60R; my wife carries a Yaesu VX-170. Both of these radios work great on VHF; the FT-60R also operates on 440 and can monitor most everything in analog out there that other agencies may be using. The VX-170 is considered a Rugged-class handheld; the FT-60R on the other hand is not. Personally, I like my wife’s radio more for the simple fact that I won’t be in tears if it falls off of my belt and hits the pavement. Perhaps I need to fall back on my old friend the VX-150 which falls in to the Ultra-Rugged category. Either way, this entire series of radios are capable of using the same battery packs, which leads me to the next category.
Spare Rechargeable Battery for the handheld radio in this kit. It’s crucial to not only have a good capacity battery on
the radio to start with, it’s critical to have an additional charged battery to switch to. In a number of shelter assignments I’ve had in the past, one of the biggest issues I’ve seen is an operator running out of battery power and not having a spare rechargeable to switch to. I prefer to use aftermarket NiMH high capacity battery packs exclusively for normal operation, while keeping the OEM medium capacity batteries as spares. For the VX150/170 & FT60R series, Batteries America makes an aftermarket 2000 mAh NiMH rechargeable pack for about $40. The factory NiCd was 700 mAh; the upgraded NiMh that came out with the VX170 and the more recent VX150 kits was 1400 mAh.
I would never leave home without my AA Alkaline Clam Shell. Almost every major wildland firefighting agency in the western US uses AA alkalines when out on an incident. When assisting on major disasters such as wildfires, I’ve yet to find an easy AC power location to charge up my radio’s battery. On the flip side of that, the Supply Unit usually has thousands of Kodak AA alkaline batteries available. For the VX150/170 & FT60 series radios, the FBA25 6 Cell AA Clam Shell from Yaesu can be found for around $20 from suppliers like Gigaparts & Ham Radio Outlet. Paired with an 8 pack of Energizer 2500 mAh rechargeable NiMH batteries for around $13, you can build a very robust battery pack that can easily be changed over to alkalines or lithium ion cell rather quickly.
More to follow!
73 de K6LOR
