EMERGENCY BAG:

 
1. DAYBAG
2. Neck lanyard pocket with $20 cash, credit card/s, photo ID, dog tags
3. A second HT with battery packs, A4 battery case, gel cell battery unit with charger
4. Speaker mic and/or headset for second HT
5. Operating manual for second I-IT
6. DC adapter cables with Power Pole connectors for brick amplifiers and HTs
7. Ten foot 10 gauge twin lead extension cable with in-line fuses
8. 2 Meter brick amplifier
9. Gain antennas for HTs (telescoping half-wave Larsen and flexible dual band Comet CH-72, 1/4 wave     VHF and 5/8 wave UHF).
10. Gel cell batteries for amplifier (enough batteries for 8 hours of operation at 25% duty cycle)
11. Jumper cables for HT to Amplifier connections
12. Cable ties (12 large and 12 small) minimum
13. BNC to SO-239 adapters, BNC to BNC barrels, BNC to SMA adapters, SO-239 to SM? adapters
14. Compass and/or hand held GPS unit
15. Pencils, pens, paper, notebooks, permanent marker
16. Masking tape (for marking cables)
17. Duct tape (for hanging cables)
18. Good flashlight (Mag Lite style) or LED flashlight, spare batteries
19. Spare fuses for all powered equipment
20. Additional personal care items, shave, toothbrush, etc...
21. RACES or ARES manual
22. Frequency charts, operating frequencies, repeater locations and PL tone codes
23. Three days worth of clothing, towel, blanket and/or sleeping bag
24. 1 gallon of water for each day in the field
25. Food that doesn’t require cooking or refrigeration, soup1 beans, tuna, juices, fruit, pean butter,          jelly, hard candy, instant coffee, tea, Sterno for warming food, military MREs
26. Personal medications
27. Disaster Service Worker ID card
28. Tool kit with channel locks, wire stripper/crimping tool, needle nose pliers, screwdrivers
29. Small VOM and SWR meter
30. Collection of crimp on connectors and splices, crimp on BNC connectors, wire, coax, r tape, butane soldering iron.
 

Portions of this article appeared us “Field Forum”, published by the ARRL
© Copyright 1997. Nonprofit reproduction is permitted with attribution C. Edward Harris, KE4SKY, AEC Fairfax County VA ARES
 

“amateur radio.., when all else fails"