First off, get the rid of the rubber duck and getthe Nagoya whip (na-320a), the extended battery, and the programming cable, now it looks and acts like a real radio, even inside the house. Bought the adapter to hookup to my outside antenna and I can really pickup traffic on distant repeaters and tag them as well.I first used it for my Technician class studies as a scanner and to practice using the Chirp software to download/program local reapeaters, active frequencies and other channels to listen in on. Really helped my learning curve once I got familiar with it and reached a knowledge tipping point. All those wavelengths, frequencies, bands, hf, vhf, uhf, restrictions and offsets etc. can be intimidating at first. But this radio helped, along with a few books and some youtube videos, to reinforce with hands on trial and error if you dont have buddy or Elmer to guide you. Resist the PPT button until you pass your exam and receive your call sign !!I still use it as a scanner/mobile transmitter , and to experiment with various directional antennas for portable low power work. Lot of radio for the money, and is a good first handheld radio that will be useful for many projects in your ham future.