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

One thing the FT60 also uses the same battery holder as the VX150 even though the battery packs are different. I also have the Ft60 and like it also.

Lee

I have to put a vote in for the FT60 also. I did a lot of research on-line and talked to many other hams. What some issues came down to was ease of operation. I learned that the ICOM's and Kenwoods are quite complex and difficult to get use to. For me that read frustration and if your frustrated with any techy thing you might end up not wanting to use it. Anyway, I bought the FT60 and I really like it. It is rugged. The battery that came with it holds its charge for a long time. I too bought the AA battery pack accessory though I have not used it. This radio has been very simple to use. The manual is easy to understand. I bought the CD program to manage frequencies to upload/download on my PC. That alone is very cool. I participate in a local emergency communications group and on 5watts others can hear me as I them on our local repeaters. This radio goes with everywhere. I bought a MFJ magmount for my truck for 40 bucks including shipping. That has helped "get out" on simplex.
I would suggest participating in your local HAM club. Lots of helpful and knowledgeable folks that really want you to enjoy HAM. Ask them what HT they carry and WHY they like it.
Welcome to HAM radio and have fun with it.
KI6GRS

I received a private message regarding my earlier posting. One of our members asked if I thought he (she?) could earn a Ham radio license without taking a formal class, since they could not find one in their area (Chicago, which surprises me). I answered them 'off-line' but then realized others might have the same question but not be willing to ask. Here is my response:

I don't know how much you know already, so bear with me while I provide some background. Feel free to skip ahead if it suits you.

The FCC currently issues three levels of Amateur Radio (i.e. Ham radio) licenses: Technician, General & Amateur Extra. In broad outline the Technician license gives you "voice" privileges on several VHF & UHF radio frequency bands. The General and Amateur Extra class licenses provide privileges on the HF (i.e. shortwave) frequency bands usually used in long distance communications. This is a gross oversimplification, but it gives you a rough idea of what you get with each license class.

The Technician license is quite easy to earn. You can learn everything you need to know to get started in Amateur Radio from books, though a class helps introduce you to others in the hobby. The American Radio Relay League (ARRL)(www.arrl.org) is an excellent source of information. Their book "Arrl Ham Radio License Manual" ( http://www.amazon.com/Arrl-Ham-Radio-Lic...85108494&sr=8-1 )
is an excellent introduction and was the textbook used for the class I took last year. I could have passed the test by reading the book without the class, but the class was fun. Convincing a few of your friends to get their license at the same time sounds like a great idea.

You can take a sample test (which uses 'real questions', the test question bank is public) at this site: http://www.eham.net/exams/. By the way, here's a link to information about classes in the Chicago area, courtesy of the "Amateur Radio Toy Store" in Wheaton: http://www.amateur-radio-toy-store.com/classes.php.

When you're ready to take the test you can find testing sites and times using this link on the ARRL web site: http://www.arrl.org/arrlvec/examsearch.phtml. There is a $14 fee to take the test. The fee covers the overhead costs of administering the program, including sending the exam paperwork to ARRL (via FEDEX) for input to the FCC.

I got into Amateur Radio for a number of reasons. First, my dad has been a Ham for decades, and has wanted me to get on the air for many years. Since learning morse code was eliminated as a requirement for the Technician license a number of years ago (and for all license classes this year) I finally made it a priority to get my license last year. I expect to use it for emergency communications when traveling and to participate in public service communications as a volunteer periodically. For example, next Saturday I'll be helping to provide radio communications for a local bike race. Next month I'll help at a parade here in town.

Feel free to follow-up with more questions. I'll do my best to answer them or point you in the direction of resources to help you find an answer.