Here is a look at the Handheld radio I use the most. Its a FM/DMR dual band handheld and its available if you shop around for under £50.00. Quite well made too and the RX performance is pretty good and I get good reports on TX too. Goes to show that getting into radio and DMR needn't be expensive.

Radio on the cheap?

Despite the old saying "you get what you pay for" I have been pleasantly surprised with  the handheld pictured above. Its a Baofeng DM-860 dual band VHF/UHF FM and DMR handheld.

Form factor is almost identical to the more expensive Radiodditty GD-77, in fact the batteries and chargers are interchangable between the two radios.although the programming lead and CPS software is different.

I have had this radio for a couple of months now and it has become my daily use handie. I have had good audio reports from it on both DMR and FM. Probably the best radio I have seen from Baofeng to date. It's not perfect obviously, the receiver on FM is not as good as my Icom ID51 for example but real world tests (i.e. using the radio) show it to be superior to both the Baofeng UV5R and RD5R.

At a price (direct from China) of just over £40 though it is hard to beat, particularly as it allows a degree of programming from the front panel which is not something all DMR radios allow.