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When I was a kid, my grandfather had a room full of ham radio equipment and a huge tower antenna in the yard. We could talk to people from all over the world. Years before we internet. Didn't appreciate how cool that technology really was as a 5 year old.

Emergency communication method?

Fun?

Learn a new skill?

Bill Cypher 1y ago

My advice to new hams who aren't super sure what part of the hobby they are into is a quansheng uv-k6. About $35 on amazon and something to play with with the custom firmware and wideband multimode receive. It won't talk all over the world, but it will give you an idea if playing with radios is fun for you for cheap.

If you see baofeng 5r recommendations, this is basically the same recommendation from 2024. The baofeng are a little out of date now that the quansheng is out. Safe to assume most of them would not pick the baofeng today.

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Discussion

Evan 1y ago

Sounds great! Thanks very much for the suggestions.

Bill Cypher 1y ago

Get the genuine ftdi chipset programming cable for it (it is compatible with the baofeng ones)

Use audio coupling to play with data modes like sstv and aprs initially.

A tinysa and nanovna are better investments than additional radios for tinkerer hams.

Use hamstudy.org to prep for the test, it has the real questions and answers.