As you may know ARES and similar emergency kits are varied and differ from area to area and are also somewhat personal. This one was modified to suit some of the cooler climates and more rural areas of North America. This list is in no way finished nor should it be. Please feel free to add subtract or adjust it to suit your circumstances.

ARES EMERGENCY KIT (Suggestions)

List of things you should have on hand in an Emergency:

• Copy of your Amateur Radio Licence
• ARES identification
• 2 metre Handy Talkie. In rural areas, repeaters may be harder to find. An added antenna such as the "Roll up J-pole", a small collapsible beam or other such higher gain antenna is a good idea.
• Flashlight ( At least one )
• Extra Batteries -- A. For flashlight - : B. For 2 meter radio
• Legal Pad or Note Pad
• Message Forms
• Pencils not pens for writing. Pens fail, they fail often, they smear in rain. They freeze in the cold and they clog or "skip" at the most inopportune time. In addition if each ARES member has a box of cheap pencils (often a little more than a buck for a dozen) they can replace broken or lost ones and share with the unfortunate fellow who forgot his! They can be sharpened with a pocket knife that I hope everybody has, unless they are travelling by air!
• Clipboard or some type of writing surface
• Cash (a few dollars and some change in case you stay out awhile) Hint: Quarters are a life saver for pay phone calls and vending machines
• Rain Coat
• Portable antenna for 2 meters
• If you break your kit into a short term and long term package, 50 ft of RG-58 should go in the short term package and 50 ft of RG-213 could go in the Long term package PL-259s on both ends and adapters for BNC along with barrel connectors are a good idea.
• Small tool kit: side cutters, linesman pliers, needle nose pliers, knife, Philips screwdrivers, slot screwdrivers, ignition wrenches, electrical tape, roll of hook-up wire.
• Warm Clothing if weather is cool or cold. Think Layers. Balaclava and Mitts as well as gloves. Disposable hand warmers are great. They keep your hands warm and can keep alkaline batteries from dying in the cold!
• Matches in a waterproof holder or waterproof matches. Everybody who knows how to light a fire without matches always remembers to bring matches with them!
• Other items: jumper cables, change of clothes, flares, etc. You never know what you may find on the scene, or how long you will be there. No matter what you have you will need something else. The previous sentence is the first rule of Emergency or Public Service Communication.
• In a rural area, maps are very handy as people need to find their directions without tying up the net controller. Everyone should have local road maps. ECs and AECs should have 1:50000 Topographic maps also, A magnetic compass is a good idea!

This list is not mandatory, only a recommendation.

Tip: Do not store Alkaline batteries in a freezer! Freezing them can ruin them. The refrigerator might help with old style dry cells but then we don't use them any more, do we? NiCd, NiMH or better yet lithium ion or primary lithium if available are the preferred battery for cold WX as they work better in the cold. The lithium ion types can be charged and left on the shelf like alkalines. Alkalines make great back ups if the rechargeables are down and can't be recharged. But they must be kept warm, else the internal resistance climbs quickly and they fail to work. Alkalines can be kept in the refrigerator but it does little to save them for long term storage, perhaps 10% increase in shelf life. Lead acid is the price per amp-hour champion and can be easily recharged with solar panels if nothing else is available. Lead acid batteries are heavy and not good for a long distance carry.

Tip: A tool box for your kit is a good idea. Label it as an ARES or Emergency kit and put it where you can get it in a hurry. Avoid tool boxes with removable smaller boxes on the outside. They are too easy to lose.

Tip: Make up a cable for your HT with alligator clips on one end and a DC plug on the other to fit your radio. That way if you arrive at a site with any kind of 12 Volt DC power you can hook up your HT for extended use.

The alligator clips are for attaching to a battery are a last resort and all members should have standard connectors on their batteries and radios.

A standard connector will prevent accidental polarity reversal and make hook up virtually instantaneous.

I recommend the 2 pole trailer plug as Bonnie KQ6XA shows on her website http://www.qsl.net/kq6xa/connect/ as they are cheaper, easier to find than the PowerPole that everyone talks about. Here in Canada, RadioShack, Wall-Mart and the ubiquitous Canadian Tire stores carry these so searching on the Internet during an emergency is not required. Canadian Tire has been great in previous emergencies like the Great Ice Storm of '98 for keeping the store open for people to get camping, hardware or automotive supplies and not fussing about the cash registers being down and such.

Original was from a Granville, Person, Vance and Warren County ARES Team in North Carolina Amateur Radio Emergency Plan and came to be after many hours of planning, discussions and labours of - AC4UO, N4RMN, N4NCT, KR4WU, KC4WXA, N4NCK and others.

This information has been heavily and shamelessly modified by Paul, VE3UUM.