I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love this radio.

You can read all about this radio all over. You can watch tons of video about it as well. However, that’s not like having the radio in hand and speaking through it that you can honestly make up your mind. Let me fill you in on a little backstory of how I came to chose this radio.

The Lead Up

I had just gone take my test to get my call sign again and I started doing research on handhelds. I used to be a No Code Tech back in the day and thought to myself… hey.. you could use a 2m handheld to start talking to everyone here locally again like you used to. So I started watching tons of videos and looking at Ham Radio Stores online at prices and whatnot. I just wanted to find the “perfect for me” HT. I saw that this had something called Wires-X and noticed a fusion repeater in the area. The DMR repeater was a little too far for me to hit, and I  settled on the FT-5DR.

I ordered the radio from DX Engineering and waited for it to arrive.

It arrived…

I wanted to grab the GoPro and start recording because the world needs another unboxing video, but my excitement got to me and i sliced into the tape holding the box together. I took it all out of the plastic bags it had come in and slapped it together.

I plugged in the charging adapter and waited and wait and waited. After hours of waiting for it to charge up, it was my time to move in. 

The moment was here…

I pulled out the charging cable and looked at the HT with big eyes… The moment was finally here and I stopped myself from hitting the power button until I could sit and enjoy it in its full glory.. I depressed the power button and the radio started to show signs of life. The excitement grew exponentially in that 3 seconds. Then it booted up for the first time and i was met with…