suggestions for a starter handheld

[Jaay]

On 2/1/2026 at 10:43 AM, SteveShannon said:

That’s what I get for posting while half asleep. I’ll delete my post. 
But in that case if you want to have a radio that enforces the band limits simply buy a Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood, Wouxun, and don’t unlock it. They’re all programmed to adhere to the band limits. Stay away from the cheap Baofeng, tid radios, etc. 

But... But I LIKE my Frequency Agile TID H8 and my Wouxun 935H ... 

[Jaay]

11 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

If you truly want one radio that will transmit on the greatest number of technician available bands and in all of the technician modes, either the IC7100, the FT991A, the IC705, or the FT1X cover the most bases.  None of them are inexpensive, but all of them will do SSB, FM, AM, CW, RTTY, and the various digital modes like FT8, etc. They all support CAT control and all can be used as mobile radios. The IC705 and the FT1X Field are QRP rigs, but the FT1X Optima package includes an amplifier that makes 100 watts on the HF bands. These four radios also do SSB on the VHF and UHF bands, which is pretty uncommon, but nice.

 

I Second the 991A 

[WRYZ926]

One word of caution when it comes to the Yaesu FT991A, FTDX10, and FTDX101.

Never plug in or unplug the USB cable from the radio or computer when they are powered on!

Plugging and unplugging the USB cable on these radios when the radio and computer are turned on can and will blow the radio's USB port.

Yaesu will fix the USB port one time only for the original purchaser under warranty. If the USB port blows a second time while under warranty or the radio is out of warranty, the repair will cost you $900. This information is straight from the US Yaesu repair technicians.

Another warning about Yaesu radios with the DVI monitor port. NEVER use a HDMI monitor with a HDMI to DVI adapter or HDMI to DVI cable. A HDMI monitor will blow the port and/or cause other issues on the radio. Use a DVI monitor and DVI to DVI cable only.

[WRYZ926]

When it comes to hand held radios, I can recommend the Wouxun KG-935H and KG-Q10H. The 935H is a tri band 2m/1.25m/70cm radio and the KG-Q10H is a quad band 2m/1.25m/70cm/6m (FM only) radio.

Make sure to get the H models as they are for the amateur bands. Plus the H models can be unlocked.

The downsides to the KG-Q10H is that you have to swap antennas from the 2/70cm antenna to the 1.25m/6m antenna. The other is that the screen is hard to see in direct sunlight.

The downside to the KG-935H is the long tri band antenna. 

Unlocking either radio opens it up to use on MURS and GMRS. I have not and will not try it on public safety bands.

Again get the H models as they are for the amateur bands AND can be unlocked. The GMRS G models cannot be unlocked and will only work on GMRS.

Yes they are more expensive but they have better quality control than the cheap radio brands such as Baofeng, Tidradio, etc.

[Jaay]

6 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

One word of caution when it comes to the Yaesu FT991A, FTDX10, and FTDX101.

Never plug in or unplug the USB cable from the radio or computer when they are powered on!

Plugging and unplugging the USB cable on these radios when the radio and computer are turned on can and will blow the radio's USB port.

Yaesu will fix the USB port one time only for the original purchaser under warranty. If the USB port blows a second time while under warranty or the radio is out of warranty, the repair will cost you $900. This information is straight from the US Yaesu repair technicians.

Another warning about Yaesu radios with the DVI monitor port. NEVER use a HDMI monitor with a HDMI to DVI adapter or HDMI to DVI cable. A HDMI monitor will blow the port and/or cause other issues on the radio. Use a DVI monitor and DVI to DVI cable only.

Good Point !! Common Sense,and Simplicity goes a Long way to problem free operation.  No real reason for an HDMI monitor on it, as the internal display works just fine, with the exception of being somewhat laggy on the waterfall. 

[WRYZ926]

My FDTX10 has a bad USB port and I know several people with blown USB ports on their FTDX101 and FT991A radios.

Part of the problem is that Yaesu installs a capacitor on the board that is only used to program the USB control chip. But Yaesu uses the Silicon Labs OEM firmware so there is no need to even have the capacitor on the board. 

[beerftw]

20 hours ago, WSKY396 said:

Thanks again guys, I appreciate the knowledge. What would be an adequate mobile base station? I’m in a townhouse with some limitations. I have looked a little bit into stealth HOA stuff but not sure that I can make any of that work with what I have.
 

A mobile base station you can have in your vehicle, or even use a battery or battery bank to power. But I assume you are talking antennas.

  Antennas are fairly expensive, especially if you buy purpose built portables for every radio type, while often the antennas themselves are much cheaper if you make your own base setup. For example from my research many ham users had been using mobile photography tripods, usually the heavy duty ones modified to hold antenna mounts, and they will switch multipe antennas on the same tripod to have them on the go as needed.

  There are also some suspended antennas you can tie between trees and take down as needed, also popular for on the go and for pota. Keep in mind there is no one antenna between frequencies and bands, 2m and 70c can easily use the same antenna, but that antenna will not work well on 10m.

 

  If dealing with an hoa the tripod setup is often used as well because they can set it up in their lawn, have their antenna hoisted up high and run their grounds, and have it back down and packed in a short amount of time, and this works unless you have an hoa that literally prohibits antennas, though most do not they usually put limits on how high they can be permanently mounted, where they can be mounted, etc but few have rules against temporary antennas that can be packed up in minutes and put in your garage or shed.

[TNFrank]

I still think the BF-F8HP-Pro is hard to beat for any price.

[WSKY396]

2 hours ago, beerftw said:

A mobile base station you can have in your vehicle, or even use a battery or battery bank to power. But I assume you are talking antennas.

  Antennas are fairly expensive, especially if you buy purpose built portables for every radio type, while often the antennas themselves are much cheaper if you make your own base setup. For example from my research many ham users had been using mobile photography tripods, usually the heavy duty ones modified to hold antenna mounts, and they will switch multipe antennas on the same tripod to have them on the go as needed.

  There are also some suspended antennas you can tie between trees and take down as needed, also popular for on the go and for pota. Keep in mind there is no one antenna between frequencies and bands, 2m and 70c can easily use the same antenna, but that antenna will not work well on 10m.

 

  If dealing with an hoa the tripod setup is often used as well because they can set it up in their lawn, have their antenna hoisted up high and run their grounds, and have it back down and packed in a short amount of time, and this works unless you have an hoa that literally prohibits antennas, though most do not they usually put limits on how high they can be permanently mounted, where they can be mounted, etc but few have rules against temporary antennas that can be packed up in minutes and put in your garage or shed.

Thanks for the info. With the cheap handheld I can hear many repeaters in my area but I definitely want to see what I can do without the repeaters once I’m cleared to transmit. I was gonna do an online test but found out that I needed a real PC or laptop which I don’t have a need for so I gotta wait another week for a local in person test. I would rather spend the money on radio equipment.

[Bogieboy01]

11 hours ago, WSKY396 said:

Thanks for the info. With the cheap handheld I can hear many repeaters in my area but I definitely want to see what I can do without the repeaters once I’m cleared to transmit. I was gonna do an online test but found out that I needed a real PC or laptop which I don’t have a need for so I gotta wait another week for a local in person test. I would rather spend the money on radio equipment.

I have had good luck with using a 30" steel whip style mobile antenna for a base setup, had this mounted to a pole that pushed it above the roofline of my apartment in NY, and now have it mounted to the peak of my shed. Its a $30 bingfu antenna, so239 female bulkhead adapter, and a groundplane plate added to a shelf bracket. The round disc of metal was an attempt at a geoundplabe that didnt work out, and i didnt feel like trying to take it off, so i just added the so239-pl259 ground plane on top of it LOL used to be able to hit repeaters 30+ mi away with both my 25w anytone 778uv, as well as with my 5888uv that replaced it for more wattage...now i moved to TN and havent been on the air near as much, but i know i can get to repeaters a good 15-20mi away over the hills... 

 

 

 

[beerftw]

23 hours ago, WSKY396 said:

Thanks for the info. With the cheap handheld I can hear many repeaters in my area but I definitely want to see what I can do without the repeaters once I’m cleared to transmit. I was gonna do an online test but found out that I needed a real PC or laptop which I don’t have a need for so I gotta wait another week for a local in person test. I would rather spend the money on radio equipment.

The in person test is what I chose, especially since the vast majority of only testing is one person at a time, people local to an in person test doing it online takes slots away from people far away or unable to do in person tests to do them online. My test is tomorrow, I hope to pass and if not I will try again until I do.

 

  On the laptop thing, if you go far enough into ham radio, you wil want a laptop or desktop computer, and maybe a raspberry pi or arduino as a good amount of ham options involve the internet with computer software. But if you have no need for it yet do not worry short of the very expensive all in one radios, most ham users buy one radio at a time and add things to their collection as they go along, no need to have a full digital capable setup yet if you have not even scratched the surface yet of analog ham radio.

[beerftw]

On 2/5/2026 at 7:11 PM, TNFrank said:

I still think the BF-F8HP-Pro is hard to beat for any price.

I am leaning between this and the retevis a3, tri band support or quad band with the a3, but fairly limited quad band support.

 

  I think the handheld just needs to be better than the cheap uv5r but not break the bank as it will simply be the easy to use ht but base stations will be better, I think of it like do not put much into your first car after your license because you will be trying to upgrade it fast, with radios tri band ht is a good choice at minimum, and would still be good even after buying good base or mobile stations.

[WRYZ926]

One downside to tri band and quad band antennas is that you either have to constantly swap out antennas or you have to live with a 13 inch or longer antenna to get all bands.

The Wouxun KG-Q10H has two antennas, one for 2m/70cm and another for 1.25m/6m. The Wouxun KG-935H has a single antenna that is 13 1/2" long.

The 935H when it first was released came with two shorter antennas and then started shipping with the single longer antenna.

I have the KG-Q10H and the KG-935H and I can honestly say that I use the 2m and 70cm bands the most. I hardly ever use 1.25m or 6m.

[WSKY396]

14 hours ago, Bogieboy01 said:

I have had good luck with using a 30" steel whip style mobile antenna for a base setup, had this mounted to a pole that pushed it above the roofline of my apartment in NY, and now have it mounted to the peak of my shed. Its a $30 bingfu antenna, so239 female bulkhead adapter, and a groundplane plate added to a shelf bracket. The round disc of metal was an attempt at a geoundplabe that didnt work out, and i didnt feel like trying to take it off, so i just added the so239-pl259 ground plane on top of it LOL used to be able to hit repeaters 30+ mi away with both my 25w anytone 778uv, as well as with my 5888uv that replaced it for more wattage...now i moved to TN and havent been on the air near as much, but i know i can get to repeaters a good 15-20mi away over the hills... 

 

 

 

Nice!, I look forward to the do it yourself aspect of all of this.

[WSKY396]

2 hours ago, beerftw said:

The in person test is what I chose, especially since the vast majority of only testing is one person at a time, people local to an in person test doing it online takes slots away from people far away or unable to do in person tests to do them online. My test is tomorrow, I hope to pass and if not I will try again until I do.

 

  On the laptop thing, if you go far enough into ham radio, you wil want a laptop or desktop computer, and maybe a raspberry pi or arduino as a good amount of ham options involve the internet with computer software. But if you have no need for it yet do not worry short of the very expensive all in one radios, most ham users buy one radio at a time and add things to their collection as they go along, no need to have a full digital capable setup yet if you have not even scratched the surface yet of analog ham radio.

Good luck tomorrow on the test brother. 
I’m an inspirational Luddite at the end of the day and will most likely get a laptop after I figure out the traditional old school anolog.

[beerftw]

Got 32 out of 35 questions right, passed my test and now have to wait for the ffc payment email then after that is processed the license and callsign. If you use hamstudy or any other service this test is fairly easy, there are a few fairly confusing questions but the way the test is structured if you understand and study the test pool always has enough easy questions to pass.

  I should have studied for general, but I up and made the decision a little over a week ago and studied an hour or less per night. The ve asked if I studied general and his computer even had the option to test for general if I wanted. Apparently if there is time and the ve wants to allow it, you can do all 3 license class tests in one go.

[SteveShannon]

6 minutes ago, beerftw said:

Apparently if there is time and the ve wants to allow it, you can do all 3 license class tests in one go.

Yup!  Once you’re studying build on it. But you can also go back next time your VEC offers exams and take the general and extra, no additional FCC fees. 

[beerftw]

2 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

Yup!  Once you’re studying build on it. But you can also go back next time your VEC offers exams and take the general and extra, no additional FCC fees. 

I am contemplating studying for both general and extra and taking them in april during hamfest. Not sure if I need extra but I darn sure want general as that opens up most of the hf frequencies.

[Northcutt114]

15 minutes ago, beerftw said:

I am contemplating studying for both general and extra and taking them in april during hamfest. Not sure if I need extra but I darn sure want general as that opens up most of the hf frequencies.

Congrats on passing the technician exam.

Fair warning, as someone who just went from technician to general, the questions - or rather the knowledge pool - is much different than the technician. Just from GMRS piddling and general radio info, I was very confident on the tech exam. The General, though? I was way out of my depth.

Keep using hamstudy. That's all I used. I didn't read a book or watch a video or anything. Just hamstudy. And when I got an answer wrong, I clicked the top right corner and found out why. 32/35 on my general.

You can do it!

 

[Lscott]

2 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

Yup!  Once you’re studying build on it. But you can also go back next time your VEC offers exams and take the general and extra, no additional FCC fees. 

When the FCC dropped the CW requirement that’s what I did. Passed both.

[Northcutt114]

6 minutes ago, Lscott said:

When the FCC dropped the CW requirement

I'd never be a ham if I had to learn CW to pass the test. 

[beerftw]

23 minutes ago, Northcutt114 said:

I'd never be a ham if I had to learn CW to pass the test. 

Cw is usefull but a test for it turned too many away. One old guy there at the test who was with different people not sure if he was a ve or just part of a ham group hanging out said he actually could never figure out cw, studied like heck and passed his tests but still can not remember any of it but the common sos.

  So he said since the 1980's he has cheated, he said he still has an old cw paper tape hole puncher, that would print it out as it was transmitted, then he would read it and compare it to a chart to understand what it said.

 

  Nowadays there is even computer apps and devices that can translate cw on the fly and even transmit it after you type it on a keyboard. I can understand why cw was a thing, low bandwidth and weak signals could travel super far, but it was a barrier that most people could not complete to get a ham license.

[beerftw]

55 minutes ago, Northcutt114 said:

Congrats on passing the technician exam.

Fair warning, as someone who just went from technician to general, the questions - or rather the knowledge pool - is much different than the technician. Just from GMRS piddling and general radio info, I was very confident on the tech exam. The General, though? I was way out of my depth.

Keep using hamstudy. That's all I used. I didn't read a book or watch a video or anything. Just hamstudy. And when I got an answer wrong, I clicked the top right corner and found out why. 32/35 on my general.

You can do it!

 

The ve there said those that studied for tech general is easy as it is mostly the same stuff just more technichal, so someone who could pass one and studied for the other could pass both with little effort.

 I am assuming you used gmrs knowledge or old cb knowledge and found it did not translate past the tech test for ham, hence pushing hamstudy. I agree with hamstudy, I ran a set of tests every night until I got 100 percent pass rate, then I pushed it further until I got atleast a 92% + average on the practice tests, and that was done in a little over a week on a whim.

[Northcutt114]

1 hour ago, beerftw said:

Cw is usefull but a test for it turned too many away. One old guy there at the test who was with different people not sure if he was a ve or just part of a ham group hanging out said he actually could never figure out cw, studied like heck and passed his tests but still can not remember any of it but the common sos.

  So he said since the 1980's he has cheated, he said he still has an old cw paper tape hole puncher, that would print it out as it was transmitted, then he would read it and compare it to a chart to understand what it said.

 

  Nowadays there is even computer apps and devices that can translate cw on the fly and even transmit it after you type it on a keyboard. I can understand why cw was a thing, low bandwidth and weak signals could travel super far, but it was a barrier that most people could not complete to get a ham license.

I understand the appeal of CW, and how it can be useful. I just have no interest in it. Same with digital modes. I want to talk to people on the radio. My G90 has a CW decoder on it...and it works OK. I've listened to a few CW QSO's. Just not something that moves the needle for me.

 

[Northcutt114]

1 hour ago, beerftw said:

The ve there said those that studied for tech general is easy as it is mostly the same stuff just more technichal, so someone who could pass one and studied for the other could pass both with little effort.

 I am assuming you used gmrs knowledge or old cb knowledge and found it did not translate past the tech test for ham, hence pushing hamstudy. I agree with hamstudy, I ran a set of tests every night until I got 100 percent pass rate, then I pushed it further until I got atleast a 92% + average on the practice tests, and that was done in a little over a week on a whim.

I would strongly disagree with the VE. I studied for tech, but was completely at a loss when it came to the general. It took me almost three months of nightly study to get up to speed. Formulas I didn't know. Terms I had never heard of. Rules I didn't know. It was a steep learning curve.

Same as you, I did hamstudy. I was running 70% proficiency and 100% of the question pool seen when I took the test and passed.