okay so i just passed my technician exam last week (still waiting on the callsign to show up in the database) and everyone keeps telling me to just grab a baofeng to start but then other people say dont do that and get a yaesu or kenwood instead. im just really confused because there's like a hundred options and i dont know what actually matters vs what's just spec sheet noise.

i mostly want to hit the local repeaters and maybe do some APRS stuff eventually if i get into that. budget is probably around 100-150 bucks but i could stretch a little if there's something worth it. what do you guys actually use day to day and would you buy it again

congrats on passing the ticket, welcome to the hobby. so the baofeng argument is kind of a whole thing in the ham world, people get pretty heated about it. honest opinion - if you're just getting started and want to hit repeaters without stressing about it, a Yaesu FT-65 or even the FT-4XR is a solid choice in your budget. programming is way less of a headache than the baofengs, audio quality is noticeably better, and they actually pass part 97 without having to think too hard about it.

that said a lot of people start on baofengs and are totally fine. i did. just know you'll probably spend an evening with CHIRP trying to get the repeater tones set right and the manual is not exactly helpful. for APRS down the road you'd want something different anyway, the VX-8DR or FT3D both do APRS natively but those are in a different price category. get something cheap now and get on the air, you can always upgrade later when you know what you actually want.

yeah what he said about CHIRP - just download it before you do anything else, saves so much frustration regardless of what radio you get. i have an FT-65 and a cheap baofeng and honestly i grab the yaesu almost every time just because the buttons make sense and the receive audio is clearer on weak signals. the baofeng sits in my go bag as a backup mostly.