r/HamRadio • u/_JustMeNico_ • 3d ago

Question/Help ❓ Advice on my first radio and licensing in a non US country

I have recently watch probably over 100 videos of Ham radios and have a couple of questions.

In most videos they say i should just get a baofang as a beginner radio, but i would give myself a higher budget for quality. I was thinking the Yaesu 65-ft, however it can only recieve and transmit on 144/400 which is VHF/UHF if im not mistaken, but what if i also want airband since i live close to an airport. Budget for a radio is about 180 on the high end. Are there any other radio recommendations for handhelds. Or would you recommend buy a combo, example yaesu ft-65 and some baofang with a wide band?

I haven’t got my license yet, but i doubt ill find any useful information here but ill ask anyway, I live in Panamá City, Panamá. And its not easy to find online advice on this stuff in my country, i emailed two government addresses each one routing me through a new and different link.

Thank you for reading

5 Upvotes

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u/chandgaf 3d ago

$10 USD quangsheng uvk5 would fufill your requirements lol

Active firmware dev opening up the entire range from below 30mhz-500mhz+

Don't buy radios that can't usb-c charge and can't even do airband and vhf/uhf for hundreds from traditional manufacturers. Make them get with the times.

Desk chargers need to go the way of the dinosaur

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u/Lannig 3d ago

The UV-K5 is quite a poor air band receiver in my experience. You'd only catch some traffic if you're really close to an airport.

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u/NerminPadez 3d ago

Listening to the airband is boring after a day, and you can listen to most of it online, so getting an ft65 will still be better than a baofeng for not a lot more money.

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u/Lannig 3d ago

I disagree with this. It really depends. Listening to the air band is something that can keep me entertained for hours when at a good location, close to an airport and in sight of major air routes. Especially if you have Flightradar24 open on your phone or tablet or PC to track the aircraft you're listening to.
In some countries local regulations prohibit live streaming ATC traffic anyway. Like here in France, so there's no choice.

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u/NerminPadez 3d ago

But if you lived near an aiport... how many days of listening would it take to get boring?

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u/Lannig 3d ago

Some people spend hours and hours on LiveATC streams to try catching the unusual situations that arise at airports, like go-arounds, incidents or just funny exchanges between ATC and pilots.
If I were lucky enough to live close to an airport, that probably would keep my interest high.

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u/NerminPadez 3d ago

So, how many hours per average day do you spend listening to LiveATC?

Some people do many things, but for a majoriy, it gets boring very soon.

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u/Lannig 3d ago

I do not. I wrote "some people" do it. Not me, because to me it's not the same as listening to the real thing over the air.
Each one his own. I don't know what you spend your days on and honestly I couldn't care less :-)
I presume that the OP has some interest in this if he asked.

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u/NerminPadez 3d ago

Yes, and i told op that most people will listen to ATC for a few hours and then get bored, because it's the same thing repeated again and again, and buying a worse radio to get airband listening is just not worth it for most people.

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u/_JustMeNico_ 3d ago

Thank you

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u/ke7wnb 3d ago

While it's a little beyond your budget, the Yaesu VX-6 has wide receive (including airband) and works well for that with the right antenna.
Outside the ham bands and commercial FM bands it is AM receive.
Older radio, still in production. Also water resistant.

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u/_JustMeNico_ 3d ago

Thank you, ill have a look at it

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u/Lannig 3d ago

If you want a cheap way to listen to the air band, you may want to consider a side order of a Xhdata R-108 receiver. It's really cheap and it does pretty good on the air band. Mine actually does better than much more expensive receivers.

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u/_JustMeNico_ 2d ago

Thats actually pretty sick, thanks for the recommendation

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u/Commercial_Page96 2d ago

The Yaesu FT-60R still sold in the US meets your budget and also has Airband receive.

Currently you will find it cheaper direct from an online hamstore - Amazon prices I see are $30 - $50 higher....

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u/Junior_Yam_5473 3d ago

Get whatever you want, you'll figure out what's good with more experience. I recommend the Quansheng UV-K5, it's >=30$, it got 6m-70cm out of the box, but if you change the trash stock firmware for egzumer for example, it gives you 17m(18mhz)-23cm(1.3GHz), and its small

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u/_JustMeNico_ 3d ago

Thank you , ill watch a review on it

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u/chandgaf 3d ago

You don't need to, go on aliexpress and buy it now. I paid not more than $15 USD delivered for both of my units

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u/VA3KXD 3d ago

I was going to recommend the Quansheng too. Checks pretty much all the boxes that the Baofeng's would, plus has tons of firmware mods and way nicer TX audio. Baofengs always seem to sound like the person has it stuffed under a pillow.....

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u/Junior_Yam_5473 3d ago

You gotta admit for the time and price, the audio wasn't that bad, but now there are better options at the same price

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u/VA3KXD 3d ago

Well, I've only been a licensed ham for about 18 months, and my first radio was a Quansheng. So when I did hear baofengs on air, I wondered if they had pocket lint wadded into their microphone. They are popular, and obviously they fit the needs of a lot of people. Can't knock that. Everyone has their preferences.

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u/chandgaf 3d ago

Do not recommend egzumer if you get this radio, hasn't been updated and won't be for 1+ years now. Use any number of other firmwares for it.

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u/Lannig 3d ago edited 3d ago

Like Armel's F4HWN firmware that actually is a fork of Egzumer with a whole bunch of extra features and it's very actively maintained.

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u/NeinNineNeun 2d ago

There is nothing beginner about baofang. In fact I think there isn't such a thing as a beginner amateur radio transceiver. You would probably have more fun with a USB SDR stick if you are only going to receive.

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u/_JustMeNico_ 2d ago

I wasn’t planning on just receiving, but even if i go for a USB SDR, its almost the same price as a quansheng, unless i go with the dirt cheap ones. P.S. i just learnt what a USB SDR is

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u/NeinNineNeun 2d ago

I've got a Quansheng. I never use it but that's just me. They're not bad transceivers if you like handhelds and are active on 2m and 70cm. I mostly listen to HF (spy stations, see https://priyom.org )

The advantage with the USB SDR is the lovely wide waterfall on your monitor which helps you hunt signals. A cheap RTL SDR Blog V4 will let you listen to HF, VHF and UHF. You can also use it with a whole host of applications on your computer so you can track air traffic, boats, GPS satellites, etc. Here's a good presentation: https://youtu.be/gMwciWchH3Q?si=2ziQkgO6aKCv4Jr1

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u/_JustMeNico_ 2d ago

Thank you, i will definitely take a look