What would be a good starter radio?
You can start with a cheap hand-held receiver.
Are you interested in local radio or long distance? If local, you can get a cheapy Chinese handheld for $40 or so. For more you can get a Yaesu or Kenwood. For long distance I’ve got my eye on an Icom, but that’s around $1000. You can buy a radio without a license, just don’t touch that transmit button.
Same radios will work with the amateur licenses, so no need to trade up, though there re higher power radios once you have the licenses.
BaoFeng UV-82 High Power is great handheld. On Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RSWFT2K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
BTECH UV-50X2 (Second Gen.) is great mobile (for house use you will need to buy a power supply). On Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XK83VRV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Lots of other brands and choices...
>> What would be a good starter radio?
“Baofeng” (aka BTECH?) radios are apparently a thing.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=baofeng+radio&ia=web
Available through Amazon and many other places too.
For HF, a Xiegu G90 is a fine starter. The Baofeng radios are cheap and serviceable. I frankly prefer Yaesu handhelds. I have a Yaesu FT-65 principally because I have full front panel ability to program it in the field and a means to program and back up via computer at home. The higher end radios are very configurable, but you really want to do that with a computer support program to build the channels exactly the way you want, then program the radio. Sometimes being too flexible becomes a hindrance in the field. FT-65 covers 2m/70cm. I have mobile rigs with higher TX power for use in my truck with the same 2m/70cm.
So being on this forum for a few years now (26), I’ve ran across a good number of people and ideas, some of which I’ve ran with and profited from in a variety of ways, attaboy JimRob. My radio is a Radio Shack HTX-202 VHF FM Transceiver. Unlicensed, I’ve never transmitted on it but I have monitored storm watchers and other things through the years.
For volunteering at a rally (more later) you will need a 50 watt or so mobile radio, coax cable whatever you can cobble together or buy for a mast to get the antenna up about 20 feet and a high gain whip antenna or perhaps make your own J-Pole.
Most of the things I now find interesting about ham radio, I didn't know existed before. When you become a ham, join the ARRL.
The monthly magazine has gotten me interested in WSPR, digital, etc.
I like making unusual antennas or re-purposing other things as an antenna to see where my 200mw WSPR signal reaches on different bands.
So far, the best, even better than a commercial antenna I bought, is a solid copper and brass sword I bought at our local flea market. It works great on 20 meters and 40 meters, and pretty good on the rest.
Just get your general license and dive into some direction, you will find yourself doing something fun and interesting.
Before getting my general, I used 2 meters for supporting auto rallies and some other events, which is interesting too. You learn whet equipment works best and work the bugs out.
Here's a link to the ARA Rally schedule. You can volunteer as a ham or not if you don't have a license yet.
There will be a lot of hams there to learn from and see their setups.
IMHO it is a great way to get into ham radio and learn how to use it for a disaster. https://www.americanrallyassociation.org/2024-ara-schedule
I look at Amateur Radio as another ‘capability’ in emergencies. So look at it as what you want to get out of it to decide what a ‘starter’ kit or complete setup looks like.
If you want regional or nation wide or international comms, you need to be looking at HF. If you want local, you can do a lot with VHF/UHF. There are different bands within HF. Each band, HF, UHF, VHF pretty much needs its own antenna. Sometimes you can use one antenna to do more than one band if the harmonics match correctly. Like many other things, trying to find one radio to do everything will not yield as good a system as having multiple radios designed for specific bands/uses.
Recommend you do a lot of research on antennas before you commit to buying equipment. HF antenna can be low profile or very high profile (so much so that your neighbors may complain). You can do mobile HF, but I am only home based for HF. UHF/VHF lend themselves to mobile better, especially if you know the local repeaters.