ok so i just passed my technician exam last week (finally) and now im trying to figure out what HT to actually buy. ive been reading reviews for like three days straight and im more confused than when i started. everyone seems to have a different opinion and i cant tell if the cheap baofeng stuff is actually fine or if im going to regret it later.

my plan is mostly just to get on local repeaters and maybe do some simplex with a buddy who lives about 6 miles away. nothing fancy. budget is probably around 50-80 bucks but i could stretch to maybe 150 if theres a really good reason to. i saw the yaesu ft-60 mentioned a bunch but also the wouxun kg-uv9g and honestly i dont even know what half the features people are talking about actually matter for what i want to do.

like does APRS on an HT actually matter if youre just starting out? and whats the deal with the chirp software thing, do i need that no matter what radio i get? any advice appreciated, i dont even know what questions i should be asking at this point

congrats on passing the test, welcome to the hobby. so here's my honest take after going through this same thing a few years back — if your budget can stretch to the ft-60r, just do it. its been around forever, build quality is rock solid, the audio is loud and clear, and it'll handle being dropped a lot better than most of the chinese handhelds. i still have mine from when i started and it just keeps going.

that said if you really cant go above 80 bucks a baofeng uv-5r or one of the slightly better uv-82 variants will absolutely work for getting on repeaters and doing simplex. the programming is kind of a pain without chirp but chirp is free and pretty easy once you get the hang of it. you'll want it regardless of what radio you get honestly, manually programming repeaters into some of these things through the keypad is a nightmare.

APRS is cool but i wouldnt worry about it at all when youre just starting. get on some local repeaters first, find your local club if you havent, and worry about fancy features later. you dont need them to have fun right now.

i went through this exact same thing a few months ago lol. ended up getting the baofeng uv-5r just to have something while i figured out what i actually wanted. its fine, works, got me on repeaters no problem. but yeah the menu system is kind of terrible and the chirp thing is basically required.

now i have a yaesu ft-70dr which does fusion digital and analog both and i like it a lot more, feels way more solid in the hand. but thats like 150 bucks so depends on your budget. i dont regret starting with the cheap one though cause i wasnt even sure if id stick with the hobby at first