so I just passed my technician exam last week and im trying to figure out what handheld to get. theres so many options and honestly I dont even know where to start. I keep seeing the Baofeng UV-5R everywhere and its like $25 which seems almost too good to be true, but then some people say to just save up and get a Yaesu or Kenwood. My main use would probably be local repeaters and maybe APRS eventually if I get into that. I dont have a huge budget, maybe $100-150 to spend. does the brand really matter that much for just starting out or am I overthinking this?

congrats on the ticket first of all. okay so the Baofeng thing is kind of a forever debate in this hobby but heres my honest take after using one for about two years before upgrading — they work fine for getting started. the audio isnt great, the receive is a bit broad which can cause some interference issues on crowded bands, and programming them without Chirp software is kind of a nightmare. but for $25 you can figure out if you even like HF operating before dropping real money.

that said if you have $100-150 to spend I'd probably just go straight for the Yaesu FT-65 or maybe a used Yaesu FT-60. the FT-60 is basically a tank, ive dropped mine more times than I want to admit and it just keeps going. better audio, better filtering, and the menu system actually makes sense. just my two cents.

I was in the exact same spot like 8 months ago lol. I ended up getting the Baofeng just to save money and honestly I kind of wish id spent a bit more from the start. It works but programming it was a huge headache and the battery drains faster than I expected. My elmer eventually loaned me his old Kenwood TH-D74 to try and oh man the difference in receive quality alone was shocking. obviously that radio is way out of your budget but just saying the cheaper ones do have real tradeoffs. whatever you get just make sure you grab the Chirp software, its free and makes memory programming way less painful.