so i just passed my technician exam last week (finally) and now im trying to figure out what handheld to get. ive been looking at stuff for a few days and honestly theres just so many options and i dont even know what half the specs mean. like what does it matter if something is dual band vs single band for just starting out? most of the repeaters near me seem to be 2m but i see people talking about 70cm a lot too.

my budget is somewhere around $50-150 i guess, i could stretch it a bit if something is really worth it. a guy at the club mentioned the yaesu ft-60 but then someone else said just get a baofeng to start and see if i even like using it. i kind of want something i wont regret buying in 6 months ya know. any thoughts from people who have been through this would be great

congrats on the ticket. honestly the ft-60 recommendation is solid advice, its been around forever and there's a reason people keep suggesting it - the build quality is just better than the cheap stuff, feels like an actual radio and not a toy. audio is clear, battery life is good, and programming it isnt a nightmare once you spend an afternoon with it. i started on a uv-5r back in the day and while it worked fine i did end up replacing it within like 8 months anyway, so in retrospect i should've just bought something decent to begin with.

dual band is worth it even just starting out - you'll want 70cm eventually, some local nets run on it and if you ever get into stuff like APRS or linked repeater systems you'll be glad you have it. the ft-60 does both. just get chirp for programming and follow a youtube walkthrough, saves a lot of headache with the menu diving.

i was in the exact same spot about a year ago lol. ended up going with a wouxun kg-uv9d and have been pretty happy with it, its somewhere in the middle price-wise. not as cheap as a baofeng but not as much as some of the yaesu or kenwood stuff. does like 7 or 8 bands which is probably overkill for a new ham but whatever it was on sale. tbh any halfway decent dual band HT will get you on the air and talking to people which is really the point at the start i think