Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So far so good, my advice to buyers spend the $20 on the correct programming cable. Utilize the CHIRP software and you'll be able to easily program your radio automatically as opposed to manually; it's a HUGE time saver. I'm studying for my Technician's license now so I can get the chance to transmit and make contacts but for now I'm just listening to taffic in my area. Invest in a better handheld antenna(dual-band) and one for your vehicle and you'll have more flexibility and fun with this radio; I purchased the Nagoya NA-771 and a Tram BR-180 respectively. For the new HAM the CHIRP software has access to repeater resources such as "RadioReference.com and RepeaterBook.net". Repeaterbook.net has the most current public accessible repeaters listed in the US. While in CHIRP select the "Radio" tab, then "Import from data source", then select "RepeaterBook". Then a pop up window will appear and you can then select from the state, county, and frequency band. Each repeater out there is setup differently and this is where the programming cable becomes very useful. Once you've selected your inputs you can then select the repeaters you want access to. VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: If you decide to import repeaters from, let's say 2 meters and the 70 cm bands, each time you access these bands for an area they will be listed 1 through however many that's. listed. Once you've imported the repeaters for 2 meters the 70 cm band will list 1 through how many that are listed. There will be a conflict with your memory channels if you utilize the same channel numbers for the 2 bands. So whichever band you decide to program first start with 1 and then annotate the last channel used in that band. Once you start to download the next band begin that sequence with the number after the last one you just programmed(If you stopped at channel 10 on 2 meters start with 11 on 70cm). You do this from the list of available repeaters from the "Import from file" pop up. You will see the following tabs at the top of the page: Inport, To, From, Name, Frequency, and Comment. Start by unchecking all the boxes from the "Import" tab then find the repeater(s) you want and and then double click in the number field of the "To" tab and change the number in sequence starting from the number after the last number saved in your previous frequency band i.e. 10 for 2 meters, so this set for 70 cm will begin with 11 and so on. Once you have changed the numbers to the repeaters you want saved then select the corresponding repeater by selecting it from the "Import" tab(recheck the box). Once you have all the repeaters you want then click "OK" at the bottom of the page. This will then load the repeaters sequentially back to the main page. From here you will then need to secure the programming to your radio and then click on the "Radio" tab at the top of the page then select "Upload To Radio", the software will then prompt you to do a few things with your radio, it basically comes down to you powering on your radio, ensuring your radio is not tuned to an active frequency, and then it asks you to remove the antenna. Once you've completed these tasks click OK or upload. You will see a blue or green light appear on your radio which indicates the information is being uploaded. Once everything has finished loading disconnect the radio cable from the radio ONLY. Reconnect your antenna and select your memory channels by pressing the VFO/MR button on your radio to verify the channels have been saved and then scan or scroll through them to see if you can hear any traffic in your area. Don't be discourage if you don't hear anything right away because ther may not be anyone chatting at that time. But if you have time just hold your scan button until it's start scanning in your memory settings and sit back and wait, you'll hear something soon. Just a few more steps, Go back to CHIRP and save your imported data by selecting "File" at the top left corner of the page and click "Save" if you want to keep the file named as is or click "Save as" and name the file yourself. You are now finished with programming your radio. This may sound like a lot to do but you would have to multiply this process by each repeater you would want to load manually. One more quick note if you want to make any changes afterwards reconnect your radio to the programming cable and your PC, select the "Radio" tab and then select Download from radio and go from there. I hope this helps someone. If you get the programming cable and download the CHIRP software and follow these instructions you will be good to go to in getting started with access to repeaters and listening to traffic. REMEMBER, YOU CANNOT TRANSMIT UNTIL YOU'VE EARN YOUR TEXHNICIAN'S LICENSE. Good luck, I hope this was a help to many.