Since this is a rather old thread, and the OP didn't give much in the way of requirements, I'll just give a couple of good general recommendations:


1. Get an Amateur Radio license, preferably General Class or above, to give access to HF (<30 MHz).

2. Handheld Transceivers - unfortunately, you are not going to find much with serious weatherproofing, aside from marine VHF gear (which is illegal to use on land), but dry bags and cases help here. Personally, I think the most important things in an HT or portable are the availability of common battery packs, full power operation on common batteries, and receive band coverage. Unfortunately, the most important of these (to me), is full power operation on common batteries. It's pretty much impossible to find, so try to find a unit that takes at least 4 AA batteries in it's battery pack. My favorite HT's are therefore the (discontinued) Icom IC-W32A and the Kenwood TH-F6A. Another good option might be the discontinued Kenwood TH-D7A(G), which has ARPS stuff built-in (but I don't remember about the battery pack). The Yaesu VX-6R, VX-7R, and VX-8R are popular, and submersible (JIS-7), but suffer due to their pathetic battery packs.

3. Portables/Mobiles - popular choices here are the Yaesu FT-817ND, which suffers from the lack of WX band receive capability, but otherwise can be a brilliant choice. Going up the weight scale, we have a number of car mountable options, like the Icom IC-706MkIIG and IC-7000, and Yaesu FT-857D, which can be run off a 12V battery pack, and the Yaesu FT-897D, which has a purpose-made battery kit. If "DC-to-Daylight" coverage isn't a concern, there are some esoteric HF only units out there, like the Standard VX-1210 or SGC 2020.

4. Learn about antennae. The most important part of your radio.

5. Take a very close look at the Icom IC-M802. It's built for the marine SSB market, but it has a factory-approved mod for Amateur bands, and is rated for 150W at a 100% duty cycle.

6. Learn about QRP operation. Join the HFPack Yahoo! Group.

7. If your concerns are very modest, take a look at the Uniden MHS550 marine VHF/FRS/WX/Air/AM/FM transceiver. In fact, buy one anyway, just for good measure. It gets AM/FM broadcasts, NOAA Weather radio w/SAME alerts, can be used as an FRS radio, and you can at least listen to Airband and Marine VHF traffic, and if you happen to be on the water and underway, you can actually use the marine VHF transmit.

I live in the Philadelphia area, so I like to keep one side of my Kenwood TM-D700A(G) tuned to the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge operations frequency, so I know if the drawbridge is going up if I'm planning to head in that direction.

Overall, the radio above with the most capabilities is the Yaesu FT-897D, but it's relatively heavy and bulky. Right now, I'm using an Icom IC-W32A, a Kenwood TM-D700A(G) hooked to a Garmin GPS V, a Yaesu FT-817ND, and a Yaesu FT-100. When i get around to it, I'll invest in a Buddipole antenna system just for fun.