On 09/11/16, Steven Sheeley said the following...   
       
    SS> My question is where is the best area to get HAM equipment and what is a   
    SS> good starting rig? Looking for both mobile for my truck and a base   
    SS> station.   
      
   It really depends on what you want to do. Look into something like a Yaesu   
   8800 for mobile and/or base usage. That's an older rig, but you can probably   
   get a decent one used for cheap. Mobile rigs do APRS beaconing and GPS and   
   all sorts of fun stuff nowadays, but the 8800 is a solid choice for the   
   2-meter and 70 cm bands on FM.   
      
   You can add an HF rig later if you decide that's what you want to do. The   
   guys locally seem to like the Kenwood 480 radios for their mobiles. Yaesu   
   also makes radios like the FT-857 that are mobile, 100W and do all   
   bands/modes. It could be more radio than what you need starting out.   
      
   I'm sure some folks are going to suggest the Chinese products to you if they   
   haven't already. It's hard to argue with the cheapness and seemingly decent   
   quality of something like the Baofeng UV5 radios. I wouldn't bother with them   
   personally. All the new guys that have purchased them recently sound like   
   crap on the air for whatever reason. I had one for a brief period and the   
   build quality was criminally bad, but what tore it for me was that it would   
   suddenly stop receiving and would require a "reboot."    
      
   But it's a good way to get in the door of the hobby I guess.   
      
   --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Raspberry Pi)   
    * Origin: Alcoholiday / Est. 1995 / alco.bbs.io (1:123/525)