>>203096UV-5R is fantastic for the price. Menu is a little funky to get used to, and I prefer the 0 at the bottom of the keypad but for 30-40 bucks, there's no excuse not to snag one. Programming software is the way to go (and another reason for the Toughbook to come along), as the manual programming isn't the most intuitive process invented. Ditch the stock antenna, the infamous "$3.79" antenna is a definite improvement (I think it's actually a Puxing antenna). The extended battery lasted me about a week of intermittent use. There are some pro-quality shoulder mics out there for about 30 bucks too. The BF-888s's are also a steal, I got mine shipped for $17 a piece. Easy to program up and then hand off to someone who doesn't know radios. No fancy buttons or keypads for them to screw up settings with.
>>203122>>203131>>203217>>203268Not everyone is trying to make every single trip of going /out/ into some sort of psuedo-spiritual ditch-modern-life magical hippie experience. Sure it's you and many others may be in it for that, but other people who want to bring tech out with them being "disgusting" to you seems a bit holier-than-thou. To each their own. I used my computer for radio programming, map navigation (got mappoint, and wanting to get an internal GPS soon), road trip music-ing, photo work (I brought my dSLR with me too), and a lot of researching of nearby ham repeaters near my route as I drove across 4 states. It was actually pretty sweet.
>>203258I've never monitored shortwave before but the idea has recently interested me. I was looking at that exact radio and it seems pretty rad, especially being so small. When I have 50 extra bucks I'll likely be buying it.