so i just passed my technician exam last week (finally) and now im trying to figure out what handheld to get. everyone keeps saying different things and ive been reading reviews for like three days straight and im more confused than when i started.

my main thing is i just want something reliable for local repeaters and maybe some simplex stuff if there are any nets near me. i dont need anything super fancy. the baofeng uv-5r keeps coming up because its cheap but then half the people say its garbage and the other half say it works fine so i have no idea what to believe. someone at my club mentioned the yaesu ft-65 but i dont really know much about it. budget is probably under $100 but i could stretch a little if theres a really good reason to.

anyone have thoughts on this? sorry if this gets asked all the time

congrats on the ticket first of all. honestly the baofeng debate never ends and probably never will. heres my take after using a bunch of different HTs over the years — the uv-5r works but the receiver is pretty mediocre and the build quality is kind of hit or miss. its fine for learning the ropes but you might end up frustrated if you're near a busy RF environment because it can get splatted pretty easily.

for under $100 the ft-65 is genuinely a solid step up. yaesu's been making radios for decades and it shows — better receiver, actually built to last, the menu isnt as annoying. i gave one to my daughter when she got her license and she hasnt had a single problem with it. theres also the wouxun kg-uv9d if you want dual band and more features but it's a bit more to learn. if i were starting over id probably just get the ft-65 and call it done honestly.

I was in almost the exact same spot about eight months ago and ended up getting the Baofeng just because I was nervous about spending more money on a hobby I wasn't sure would stick. It works fine for what you described, hitting local repeaters and simplex, no complaints really. But yeah I already kind of want to upgrade because the programming software is a little janky and I had some weirdness with it picking up interference at a tailgate we had.

So maybe just go for the Yaesu if you can swing the extra bit, seems like most people end up there anyway eventually.