so i just passed my tech exam last week (finally) and im looking at getting my first handheld radio. ive been reading threads on here for like two months and honestly i feel more confused now than when i started. everyone seems to have really strong opinions and half the time the posts are from 2015 so i dont know whats still relevant.

my main thing is i want something to hit the local repeaters, maybe do some simplex with a buddy who just got licensed too. nothing crazy. i keep seeing the baofeng UV-5R recommended everywhere as a starter but then just as many people saying to avoid it and spend a little more. i was also looking at the yaesu FT-60R because someone at my club mentioned it but that ones older right? and then theres the wouxun stuff and a couple others.

budget is probably around 50-100 dollars, could stretch to 150 if it actually makes sense. i dont want to buy something twice basically. what would you guys actually get if you were starting over today

congrats on the ticket. okay so the UV-5R thing is complicated -- its not that theyre bad radios exactly, its more that the stock ones can be a little out of spec on TX and the firmware is clunky, and if youre just starting out programming it without CHIRP can be a real headache. that said plenty of people run them fine for years. if budget is tight its hard to argue with 25 bucks.

but if you can hit that 100-150 range honestly look hard at the Yaesu FT-65R, its basically a refreshed version of the FT-60 your club guy mentioned and its built like a tank. i dropped mine off a tailgate onto asphalt last summer and it still works fine. the receive audio is noticeably better than the chinese radios ive tried and it programs pretty easily. the dual band coverage is solid for hitting most repeaters you'll find. the FT-60R is older yeah but theyre still making the 65R and parts support from Yaesu is way better if something goes wrong down the road. at your stage i wouldnt overthink it too much, almost any of these will get you on the air and thats the main thing

i was in literally the exact same spot about 8 months ago and ended up going with a Wouxun KG-UV9D after reading about it forever. no real complaints so far, hits all the repeaters around here fine and the receive seems pretty decent to me although i dont have much to compare it to honestly. the one thing i will say is get CHIRP set up before you do anything else, manually programming channels on any of these things is kind of miserable once you have more than like 5 repeaters to enter.