I recently received my technician ham license and purchased a Yaesu FT-991A transceiver. It is really pretty awesome, and I recommend it for anyone starting out. I’m a big fan of getting equipment that can grow along with you, and this definitely fits the bill. It covers HF/VHF/UHF frequencies, and that seems to be a bit of a rarity. It’s compact and can be used on just about any band your heart desires, complete with DNR (digital noise reduction), built in antenna tuner, and 100/50 watts of power. If I had a gripe, it’s that it’s not the FT-DX10, which I absolutely love using. However, that only supports the HF/6M bands, so I purchased the 991A as an extension to my FT-DX10. For repeaters, this seems exceptional as well, with lots of memory locations, and a simple USB cable to download and upload data from the transceiver. You can also remotely control the radio to some extent via a PC. If you only want one radio, I highly recommend this one!
