so i just passed my technician exam last week (finally lol) and now im trying to figure out what handheld to get. everyone keeps telling me different things and im just going in circles at this point. some guys at the club said get a baofeng to start since its cheap and if i break it no big deal, but then someone else said i should just save up and get a yaesu or kenwood from the start because the baofengs are junk and ill regret it. i really dont know who to listen to here.

my main use would be local repeaters, maybe some simplex at club events, and i heard you can do APRS with some of them which sounds really cool even though i dont fully understand it yet. budget is probably around 100-150 bucks but i could stretch a bit if it really makes sense to. anyone have thoughts? been looking at the yaesu ft-65 and also the wouxun kg-uv9g but honestly have no idea what separates them in real world use

congrats on passing the ticket. honestly the baofeng vs real radio debate has been going on forever and the truth is somewhere in the middle. the UV-5R works fine for hitting local repeaters, i still have one in my go bag as a backup, but yeah the audio quality isnt great and programming them without the software is a bit of a pain. if your budget can stretch to the ft-65 id probably go that route, its solidly built and yaesu's audio on receive is noticeably better, especially in noisy environments like a parking lot or whatever.

the APRS thing — if thats something youre actually interested in and not just a nice-to-have, look at the yaesu ft3dr or the kenwood th-d75. theyre more money but they have built in GPS and real APRS support, not just the half-baked stuff some radios claim to do. the wouxun you mentioned is decent too, i dont have personal experience with that specific model but wouxun quality has come up a lot since the early days. just figure out what you actually want to DO with it first and work backwards from there

i was in basically the exact same spot like 8 months ago. ended up getting a baofeng just to have something to listen on while i waited for my license and then got a yaesu ft-70dr after i passed. the ft-70 does fusion which i dont use at all yet but the radio itself feels really solid and the battery lasts forever compared to the baofeng. i think i paid like 140 for it on sale somewhere. the dual watch feature is actually super useful when youre monitoring two repeaters at once, didnt think id care about that but i use it constantly now