Looking for a budget/entry-level transciever

[KI5IRE]

I am hoping to go test for my Technician exam within the next few weeks and be on the air shortly after and am currently in the market for a decent quality budget/entry-level handheld transceiver.

I have a Baofeng UV-82WP and a TYT MD-2017 I've had for several years that I use to to monitor fire dispatch frequencies and repeaters in my area, but their pretty beat up and a little beyond their lifespan.

I am looking for recommendations for radios within the same range as the two radios mentioned above. I mainly plan to talk on 2m and 70cm bands, so HF etc. isn't a big deal for me right now. DMR capabilities preferred, and whatever else voice modes might be cool to explore. Also, the ability to add a handheld mic would be nice since I will likely be connecting to an antenna in the car and using while mobile would be nice.

What radios do you recommend? I am curious what other brands or models might be out there that are worth the money.

 

[chief21]

AnyTone D878UV... Dual-Band, analog/DMR

 

[jaspence]

Btech 6x2. It is the same as the Anytone and usually costs less. It does not have the blue tooth function but does have some programming functions that are useful, such as adding new TGs from the keypad. It will hold all of the present DMR database and is good build quality. It is sometimes identified as a Baofeng product, but the company that makes it makes the Anytone radios, which look the same. BTech DMR-6X2 - Miklor is a good reference for the radio

 

[devicelab]

Hard to beat the Alinco DMR HT for the price. It's on sale now too.

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[ladn]

Hard to beat the Alinco DMR HT for the price. It's on sale now too.

I have the Alinco (as well as the Anytone 878). Both are good radios, but I am extremely disappointed with the level of support from Alinco, Japan, in terms of CPS and firmware updates.

 

[devicelab]

I am extremely disappointed with the level of support from Alinco, Japan, in terms of CPS and firmware updates.

Agreed. They are very slow compared to other companies.

 

[AC9BX]

Analog only HT, Quansheng TG-UV2 Plus. The original 'not Plus' is also a nice radio. The Plus is 10Watts and has an orange backlight, more pleasing in my opinion than the green of the older. Very nice audio on both transmit and receive although perhaps a little low on transmit. You do get the rated power, it's rugged, good battery 4000mAh, and compared to most is easy to operate. In receive mode it will run for hours and hours. The keypad is about as intuitive as it gets, even compared to the expensive brands. On a repeater and want to monitor the input? Function, 7, bang, it's in reverse. The Plus model overloads easily compared to the earlier version. Software is awful, like the rest. Sadly Chirp (a free radio programming software) does not and apparently refuses to support the radio. It has the same common jacks for speakers and mics which have an offset placement. Stuff for the cheap radios gets along but stuff for the top brands does not. Often the exact placement of these jacks won't permit the big name accessories to plug in, and vice-versa. Baofeng especially and other cheapy radios often exceed the permissible spurious emissions.

For DMR it's tough to beat the Alinco DJ-MD5. Support is questionable.

 

[Skypilot007]

Anytone 878 is without a doubt the best budget dual band DMR/Analog radio out there right now. Great analog audio is a big deal for me and the 878 has it. The digital audio is excellent also. The CPS gets it done, it's far from the best but it's not the worst.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Anytone 878! Can't beat the DMR sensitivity for a transceiver in its price range. Nice small size too

 

[robertmac]

For mobile, Anytone has a mobile radio now. I tend to crinch when I hear a HH used mobile even attached to a good antenna [although most are mag. mounts]. Depending on area, these HH tend to only put out around 5 watts and around my location we are hearing a lot of picket fencing, poor signal, poor modulation [most of the quiet side because of cheap mics.]. There is no substitute for a good mobile rig where power can be increased past 5 watts and have much better mics.. And as usual, you generally get what you pay for.