Been a while since I've bought one, so I won't give a suggestion on any models, but do you already have a #meshtastic node?

I would look at the bands you might want to interact with—HF, VHF, UHF, etc. and then determine the license needed in your country/area. For pure #amateurradio something like the Icom 705 covers a lot of bases + portability, it just lacks significant power output. There’s always a trade off. h...

You can get a Baofeng UV-5R for cheap and see how you like it. Get the USB data cable too; it will allow you to tune more frequencies.

You can go cheap early, start with the Baofang. It’s 5W (closer to 3.5W in reality). I would also buy an SDR off Amazon for $40 (RTL-SDR). This will allow you to listen to everything up to 1GHz. You’ll be under $100 and well on your way.