so ive been licensed for about 3 months now (tech class) and ive just been using my buddy's old radio when i go to club meetings but i really need to get my own handheld. the problem is every time i start looking i end up down a rabbit hole for like two hours and close the tab more confused than when i started.

ive been looking at the baofeng uv-5r because its cheap and everyone seems to have one, but then i keep reading that the yaesu ft-65 or even the ft-60 is worth saving up for. i mostly just want to hit the local repeaters, maybe do some simplex with the club guys on 2m and 70cm. nothing fancy. budget is honestly like 50-80 bucks but i could stretch to maybe 120 if theres a really good reason to.

does the receiver quality actually matter that much for just messing around locally? i dont really understand what people mean when they say a radio has a "better front end" — is that something i'd actually notice day to day or is it one of those things that only matters in a crowded RF environment

the front end thing is real but honestly for just hitting a local repeater you probably wont notice much difference. where it starts to matter is if you're at a hamfest or a big event where theres a ton of RF flying around — the cheaper radios can get kind of overwhelmed and you start hearing weird intermod and false signals. ive seen brand new hams think their baofeng is picking up alien transmissions, its just intermod from a nearby pager tower or something.

that said, if your budget is tight and youre just getting started, the uv-5r will absolutely get you on the air and let you figure out what you actually want. i gave one to my nephew when he got his ticket and hes been using it for two years without complaint. just program it with chirp and dont mess with the TX power settings too much. the ft-65 is a nicer radio though, build quality feels more solid and the receiver is noticeably cleaner — if you can swing the extra 40 bucks i think youd be happier with it long term.

i was in basically the exact same spot like 8 months ago lol. ended up getting the baofeng just to have something and honestly it does the job fine for repeater stuff. the chirp programming thing is kind of a pain to figure out at first but once you get it set up its fine. only thing i'd say is the stock antenna on those things isnt great, i picked up a nagoya na-771 for like 12 bucks on amazon and it made a noticeable difference on receive.

eventually i want to upgrade to something better but for a first radio i dont regret it