A buddy of mine bought a repeater at the Horseheads, NY hamfest.
It consisted of a small lunch box/ cooler, a Baofeng HT, a lithium battery a short length of coax attached to a homebrew 2 meter antenna, and on top of the lunch box was a ¬ 10" x 10" solar panel. The solar Panel could be disconnected from the box and positioned to scan the south.
His plan is to put it on top of one of the many mountains around here. The channel will probably be set to a marine channel.
Anyway, once could build one for easily under $100-. If you don't have a few mountains in your AO, make a couple and place in friends attics around your AO for emergencies.
Great post JoJo!