The Best 'Buy Once, Cry Once' Ham Radio

Which "Buy Once, Cry Once" radio is in the top ten list of questions I get from viewers. Today we tackle this somewhat difficult question. Are All-In-One radios the only radio you should consider as "Buy Once, Cry Once"?

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[ludokaleo]

Learned the hard way that a good antenna is #1...

[slappomatthew]

The general rule of thumb for new people is everything sucks, nothing is what you want and everything is 4x what you want to spend

[rodgowdy]

Hi Josh, you forgot to mention the only 100W "base station" All in One, the Yaesu 991A. I know dedicated HF and UHF/VHF radios will perform better than this All In One, but as a new ham I wasn't ready to drop three grand for a superb HF. I'm super happy with my 991A and will be upgrading to multiple radios in a few years as I refine my interests.

[codygingery]

Hey Josh! Good video. One thing us at Black Swamp Amateur Radio Club has adopted is an alternate "buy once cry once" mentality amongst our members, we have done some hard work to figure out what gear just absolutely works, quick and easy and performance based. So that's the range that we recommend. Like if you're only wanting a bang for the buck hf rig and you want to run digital modes, 7300. If you want a quick and easy wire to hang up that just performs go with the par-end fedz. And from there you can branch out and try other stuff, but that initial item bought once (instead of trying 5 different items to try to make it work getting progressivley more costly in time and funds) can give you the performance you were looking for to keep you hooked in radio and want to explore more, and go further down the rabbit hole. We all want to expirement and play with what we can make work, but we also just want to be able to just throw something up and plug in to make sure if it's the bands, or just the gear that's hindering us. Keep up the good videos! K8CAG

[vasilpeychev]

The most helpful video for beginners I've watched so far in your channel. I got into ham radio a couple of months ago acquiring my license with a bit of listening on the frequencies in advance. Once I got licensed, and with a Baofeng UV-5R in the backpack, I've started digging into the topic which radio and antenna should I get first. And that is when I got completely confused with the premium models. What I did and still doing is: first purchased ANTs: Sirio HP2070, Diamond SG-7900 and Signal Sticks for my HTs. Then I bought the Quansheng K6. Next I purchased Revetis RT95 to learn the mobile radio operations (cable management, connections, etc..) and switch between antennas for testing purposes. All the way up I am learning in order to get to the point when eventually I'd know for sure which premium radio I want to have in my 'shack'. Still can't decide between a combination of IC-705 and FT891 or 1x IC-7100 because I want to be portable/mobile 75% of the operating time and reason #2 to understand for myself what work I'm more into - repeaters of HF. Thank you once again for the video. 73.

[BruceForster-kn]

I have a true story for Y'all. My wife and I once lived in a trailer Park. The Lady across the street was ALWAYS complaining about me interfering with her TV, simply because she saw the R-5 ( Shortwave Antenna) on my House. She constantly complained to the Park Manager. She even filed a complaint with the FCC-interesting because on the dates she specified in her complaint, my wife and I were visiting friends in CANADA!
What finally brought the thing to a head was when she saw me on my Porch one day. She stormed over to me, and started yelling that the "Radio" sitting in front of me was messing up her TV yet again. What she identified as my Interference causing "Radio" was MY PISTOL THAT I WAS CLEANING AT THE TIME!
Perhaps Smith & Wesson needs to be Checked out by FCC, LOL!

[tinwhiskerSC]

Extra points for the Alton Brown reference.

[kdkvz]

I have a Yaesu 991A and love that its a shack in the box. I primarily use it for HF and have a FTM-400 for my VHF/UHF but the 991A has always been a great radio.

[jackfrancis]

FT-857D was my first radio in 2006 and I do not regret it one bit. I liked it so much I bought the FT-897D a few months later for my base station. I still have them and love them. I've added a few others since but still love these radios and the capabilities they have.

[andresjustus]

You missed one point, Josh: The All-in-ones will likely be able to do sideband on VHF/UHF. Good luck finding a inexpensive mobile doing ssb or cw...

[VAHDL]

I have two all in one radios. The FT-857D and the FT-991A (not sure why this radio was not mentioned on the video but all Icom options did get mentions.) I'm extremely happy with both and I have the flexibility to operate any two different bands at the same time with both radios. 73

[NathanMazanec]

Excellent as usual! I was thinking as watching, "Wow! Josh makes such well thought out videos!" Each video you make makes us better informed, and all around makes us better! Thank you so much!

[kennethherring]

If there's one thing I learned early on, is that having an all mode radio is not the best option and the only solution is to have two separate radios, each of which that offer full power and can be monitored at the same time. Great video that I think all new Hams should view.

[kusy]

I have only ever owned one “all-in-one” and that is the IC-705. I have other radios at home, 705 is for portable opps. People do it but I do not recommend the 705 as a first radio for someone getting started.

Completely agree Josh.

[RustyConibear]

Just started out got a 705 after years of deliberation. No regrets.

[Blake-jllh]

I SOOO BADLY wanted an 818 and a 991 when I got into the hoby. I resisted the urge thanks to you preaching the same message in 2020. (I have since bought an 818 but im so glad it wasnt my first)

Having a vhf radio to talk on the local ares net while listening to the national hurricane net when i was flooded out a few years back was fantastic!

As you said the all in ones are pretty cramped, which is great for a sota but the last thing you want as a noob or someone in a stressful situation is having to poke around that much.

Great video!

[NEJM]

I ended up with a FT-991a due to wanting HF at the house but also had some repeaters across the NC/SC line that I wanted to connect to better. A 5 watt FT-3 and an Ed Fong J-pole was making it rather scratchy. The 991 was perfect since I could use 50 watts(I only needed about 10-15 to make it clearly). So far no issues but yes it’s my only HF radio. I use a lot of Wires-X and DMR currently so I can always wait to get the 991 fixed or simply get an 891 which is on my future radios forecast. Great video Josh as always.

[SargeSolutions]

Awesome video! I was getting into analysis paralysis about what to buy, and oddly enough I completely glossed over REDUNDANCY over "all in one". Your videos are awesome!

[KOVNX]

You wrap so much up in an easy-to-understand and easy-to-apply format, it's just mad genius I say, mad genius!!! Very helpful, thanks for posting this one!!!

[TFuzz]

I think there’s two reasons why all in ones are tempting. When starting out, you may not know what mode you’re really interested in and if you buy something that does everything you will be equipped to explore it all. Then for the folks that have been at it for a while, it’s the convenience of taking less gear into the field. I was tempted by the rationale of the first one when starting out but this is a good reason to get involved with the local club, so you can talk to people and see what different things may interest you. Your interests will likely change over time as you gain more experience. Who knows, to simplify things later on you may even go searching for a good used all band rig. I know a number of guitar players and not one of them has only one guitar. Great video Josh. Cheers from Moose Jaw.
Tim VE5THF