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Fieldcraft Ham Radio Contact

It's good to hook-up with a local club and get an "Elmer" or mentor. Some clubs even have classes to learn what you need for the test and some even do testing at the club making it really nice.
 
^^^^^^^^^^ This exactly and if you go to a local club meeting before you spend money on a decent rig they can hook you up with serviceable used and or keep you from buying things you don't need.

Buy a cheap pos that will make it to a local repeater preferably the one the club uses and an auxiliary antenna (mag mount works).

A pos baofeng 5w and a 50$ antenna on the roof (ed fong) opens up repeaters up to 15 miles from me.

I still use it as a backup on power failures in storms .

You will need a new antenna to make the baofeng operational (diamond).

Yeasu is my preferred choice of radios.

Buying a (disposable) baofeng first will teach you what you need to spend money on. Lol