Really depends on what you're trying to do, the hobby has so many different facets. If you're interested in low-power stuff or doing remote mountaintop SOTA ty

Really depends on what you're trying to do, the hobby has so many different facets. If you're interested in low-power stuff or doing remote mountaintop SOTA type stuff, KX3 and a Buddipole make a great kit. The usual Kenwood/Yaesu/Icom HT's are all pretty good for handhelds these days, mostly coming down to which modes/features you want support for to make the decision. (The low-budget chinese radio brands can be _okay_ in certain circumstances, but are largely pretty bad. Don't let them sour your experience of the hobby as a whole too much.) If you're into digital modes there are tons of options to explore. Personally I'm pretty bearish on the "DMR" stuff as there's very little "Amateur" about it, but the DStar community is doing some fun stuff. http://js8call.com http://js8call.com is interesting on the HF side. If you want to get really crazy on HF, FlexRadio makes some pretty cool kit too. There's no shortage of available gear, but it really depends on what you find fun. Best plan is to see if there are any clubs nearby that might be doing different types of events so you can experience different things like Earth-Moon-Earth, QRP, contesting, etc, and see what catches your fancy!