so i just passed my technician exam last week (finally) and everyone keeps telling me to just get a baofeng to start but then other people say that's terrible advice and i should get something better from the start. i honestly dont know what to believe. i mostly want to hit the local repeaters and maybe do some simplex with a couple of friends who are also getting licensed. budget is probably under $200 if possible but i could stretch it a little if it makes a real difference.

ive been looking at the yaesu ft-65 and also the wouxun kg-uv9g but i have no idea if those are actually good or if im just falling down a youtube rabbit hole. any real world opinions from people who actually use these things would be appreciated

congrats on the ticket. okay so the baofeng thing is kind of nuanced -- they're not terrible radios for hitting repeaters and learning the hobby, the main issues are the wide deviation on transmit which can annoy people on certain repeaters, and the programming software is kind of a headache. but plenty of new hams start with them and they're fine.

that said if you can swing the extra money the yaesu ft-65r is a solid step up and honestly not that much more expensive. better audio, better build quality, and yaesu's had their act together for decades. i have one in my bag as a backup and its held up really well. the wouxun stuff is decent too, i had a kg-uvd1p years ago and it worked fine but i havent kept up with their newer stuff so i cant speak to the uv9g specifically.

honestly at your stage any of those will get you on the air and that's what matters. just get something and start talking to people, the gear obsession can wait until you know what you actually want to do in the hobby

i was in your exact spot about 8 months ago and i went with the ft-65 based on similar advice and im glad i did. chirp works great with it which makes programming repeaters way less painful. the only thing i wish it had was a cross-band repeat but thats more of an advanced thing anyway. for just hitting repeaters and chatting with friends its been totally solid