What radio you need is determined by how much communications you want, and your license class.
Now.. Back in my Technician Plus days i had a Yesau FT-51 R, This is a Dual Band (VHF/UHF) FM (With am receive ability) radio that runs up to around 5 watts depending on the precise model, Hand held of course.. I fed it into a "Brick" for 35 watts to a Diamond dual band antenna. Worked great.. Of course it's VHF/UHF FM only which means you don't always have "Coverage" This replaced my older Wilson WE-800 (I might add I still have and use both of these radios)
Time passes.
I upgraded to General, and then Extra
Now I have a Kenwood TS-2000.. It's not hand held, but.. It covers 160 Meters all the way to 70cm (And even more if you get the "X" model) AM/FM/SSB/CW/FSK and more.
Both of these are best recommended as "Examples"
For a Technician class. HF work is limited to CW as I recall (the old Novice class modes/frequencies) but a good hand held coupled with a better Mobile can be very nice.. 6Mtr can often give you decent range when 2/.7 are not in the area, HOWEVER 6mtr is not a popular band.
If you have General or better I'd go with the hand held for walk-about and a good all mode/band Mobile type (Such as the Kenwood TS-2000 or the Icom or Yesau high end radios) as ... Well, they do everything.
Add a "Signal Link" computer interface,, or equivalent, (I made one myself), a good Random Wire Tuner (Mine is the Kenwood KAT-1, All the big-names have them that mate to the top end radios) and a length of plain stranded copper wire with some cotton/nylon cord on the other end and a weight on the other end of the cord and a computer with Ham Radio Delux (or any of the other good PSK programs) and you are going to be seriously amazed at what you can do.
I pump about 30 watts into that wire most PSK days (It's 100' by the way)
Here is my station.
Cockpit.. USed to have a Kenwood TM-733 (Dual band VHF/UHF FM) but that radio is out of it just now (Will get fixed later) Using Yesau listed above.. Plus some CB gear just for the noise of it.
"Shack" (a small room amid-ships I can close off) has the TS-2000.. It also has the back side of the 12 volt main distribution panel which is what feeds the TS-2000. I had to add about a foot to the factory cord on the TS-2000.
Coax to the back of the house where the KAT-1 Tuner (Marine grade) is bolted to the back of the motor home.. The long wire hooks there when parked. When rolling I use a "Luggage Rail" that also is feed via the KAT-1
Other antennas include a 70CM NGP vertical on the roof, a 2-meter J-pole (NGP) on the rear, and a 6meter quarter wave on the rear (It has a counterpoise) (I also have a "Throw up" 2-meter J-pole and a mast mounted dipole for 6, and mast mounted "T" poles (kind of a dual "J" pole) for 2mtrs and 70cm.. The mast is a 25 foot flag pole with a park on base.
(I only use it when I need it.. Normally I don't use it since I got the rig mounted hardware up and working)
You could use ICOM or Yesau in place of my Kenwood.. Should work as well.
ON Side band I"ve worked most of the contential US, and a few out of country places.
On PSK again I've worked most of the US, and a whole bunch of other countries,, That's 30 watts into that 100 foot wire. Spain, Russia, Grand Caymans, Italy, And a host of others too many to list.
The problem is knowing which band will give the best results. (80 at night is fantastic if there is not too much QRM/N)
