okay so i just passed my technician exam last week and im trying to figure out what handheld to get as my first radio. ive been reading threads here for like two weeks and honestly im more confused now than when i started. everyone seems to have a strong opinion and half of them contradict each other

the main thing im seeing is the whole baofeng vs yaesu vs kenwood debate and i genuinely dont know where to land. my main use case would be local repeaters, maybe some simplex with a neighbor who just got his license too, and eventually i want to try some APRS stuff if thats even possible on an HT. i dont have a huge budget, probably $100-150 range to start

i know everyone says the baofengs are fine to learn on and the programming is a pain but whatever. but then other people say just save up for a yaesu ft-65 or something and youll be happier long term. is the audio quality really that noticeably different or is that just audiophile stuff

also does dual band actually matter for a new ham or should i not worry about that yet. sorry if this is a well-worn topic around here

dont apologize, everyone asks this and its a totally fair question. honestly for your budget and use case id probably steer you toward the Yaesu FT-65 if you can find it around $90-100, or the FT-4XR. the build quality difference between those and a baofeng UV-5R is pretty noticeable when you actually hold them side by side. the audio on the yaesu is clearer and the receiver is less prone to getting stomped on by strong nearby signals which matters more than people think when you're near a busy repeater

that said if money is really tight the baofeng will absolutely get you on the air and there's nothing wrong with learning on one. just use CHIRP to program it and save yourself the headache of doing it by hand. dual band is worth it in my opinion just for the flexibility, 2m and 70cm covers most of what you'll run into locally

for APRS you'd want to look at something like the Yaesu FT3DR or FT5DR down the road, those have APRS built in. you can technically do APRS with a regular HT and a phone app over bluetooth but it gets complicated fast. get comfortable with the basics first

i was in pretty much the same spot about a year ago and ended up going with the baofeng to start just because i wasnt sure id stick with the hobby and didnt want to spend a lot. it worked fine for what it was but i did eventually upgrade to an FT-65 and yeah the difference in receiver sensitivity alone was worth it. kept the baofeng though, its good for loaning to people at public service events when someone forgets their radio

the dual band thing — yes get dual band, you'll want 70cm eventually even if you dont use it right away