This is also why I haven't put more effort into getting licensed. Can't afford to do a lot at the moment. How much did you spend on your cheap set up?
I got the Baofeng uv5 -https://www.amazon.com/s?k=baofeng+uv-5r&crid=2U9FFLD6XFPET&sprefix=bauf%2Caps%2C232&ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_1_4 For $30 it's a great intro to ham. A ham elmer gave me a J pole for free. I think I spent <$50 on the cable.
It definitely got me into ham, but for now I'm just going to wait until I'm either ready to shell out more money or I find a good deal somewhere.
You can look at QRZ.com and swap.qth.com for used gear. $800 is steep for used gear. It depends on what band you want to cover. You can spend about $100 for a GOOD handi-talkie for 2M and 70cm. (I don’t like Baofengs. A good Yaesu or Kenwood will do you). If you are going on in your adventure into the HF bands, you can get a decent ICom or Yaesu rig starting in the $400 range. Get a better antenna than a rig. :)
I agree with this, Baofengs arent the best but are a cheap way to get lurking. Also you get what you pay for.
Your advice to get a better antenna vs rig is the first time I've heard somebody suggest that. Thanks.
Audiophiles say the speaker system is 90% of the sound quality. Same principle in radio. :)
There’s a great book called Reflections by Walter Maxwell W2DU (SK). Lays it all out. But a bit heavy for newbies.
A quick note. Pofung or baofeng uv5 hand helds are $25 and do 70cm and 2 m. They are glorified programmable midland/motorola walkee talkees.
Its illegal by fcc to use them on those fmrs and gmrs frequencies (certain bands on 70cm set aside for non licensed use) because they have removable anntennas and are more than a 1/2 watt. But if you buy enough for your family and listen and lurk to local repeaters you can get your technicians license and have local comms. Not a bad way to dip your toe in the water. If shtf then all bets would be off at that point.
We use the Baofengs, BF-F8HP and some similar at 8w. You can get a licence and a call sign for the GMRS channels for I think 75$. Good for 10 years or so. We use them when offloading and have pre-programmed channels for many of the off-road race teams. They're really easy to program using "chirp" which is free to download. The MURS channels I think are supposed to be limited at less watts.
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