After I earned my amateur radio license last year I read a lot of reviews on the eham.net web site. The one handheld radio with the fewest complaints was the Yaesu FT-60. I focused my research on it and eventually bought two of them. One for me, and when my wife earned her license, one for her.

It's a dual-band (vhf/uhf) radio with good battery life. While it has all the complexity that comes with many features in a small package, the basic features are easy to learn and use. It's weather resistant, and continued to operate with no problems after being rained while providing support for a local event.

You can buy the radio for under $200, which leaves a little money in your budget for extra accessories, such as a mag-mount antenna for your vehicle. I think the FT-60 provides a lot of value and I haven't regretted buying it.

Dennis