so i just passed my technician exam last week and im starting to look at handhelds and honestly theres so much stuff out there i dont even know where to start. ive been reading posts for a couple hours now and people seem to have really strong opinions about baofeng vs yaesu vs kenwood and i cant figure out if the cheap ones are actually usable or if ill regret it.

main thing i want to do is hit the local repeaters, maybe eventually do some simplex stuff when i go camping. i dont need anything crazy. budget is probably around 50-80 bucks to start but i could stretch if something is really worth it. does the receiver quality actually matter that much for just repeater use around a medium sized city? i see people talk about front end overload but im not sure what that even means in practice for someone like me

congrats on passing the test. ok so here's the honest take -- if you're just hitting local repeaters and doing casual stuff, a baofeng UV-5R or one of the slightly newer variants will absolutely work and you'll have money left over. i know some folks here will argue with me on that but ive handed them to brand new hams at club events and they get into the repeater just fine.

the front end overload thing is real but it mostly matters if you're near a lot of strong commercial transmitters or in a really dense RF environment. like if you're right next to a bunch of pager towers or something you might get some weird interference. for most people in a normal city it's not a huge deal day to day.

that said if you can stretch to like 120-130 range, a used Yaesu FT-60 is a totally different experience. the receiver is noticeably better and the build quality is night and day. not trying to talk you out of the budget option but just something to consider if you think you'll stick with the hobby

I was in the same spot about 8 months ago and ended up getting a baofeng to start. it worked fine for what you're describing honestly. only thing i'd say is spend some time with CHIRP to program it because trying to do it manually from the keypad is kind of a pain. the menus are not exactly intuitive lol