@Edenlinnea You know about the new licensing fee, right? It now costs $35 to renew your license.

@Edenlinnea They turn the speech off in the menu.

@Edenlinnea Well… You don’t have to download anything to program the Baofeng, but as to more accessible radios, unfortunately the GD77 and its variants that could use the alternative OpenGD77 firmware are no longer available. But I understand the TYT TH-UV380 can take an alternative firmware.

@Edenlinnea If you haven’t renewed and your license has expired, you can’t operate until you have renewed. The grace period you can renew in is two years, but unless you started the renewal before it aired, you can’t operate during the renewal.

@Edenlinnea Do you have my Baofeng guide? If you don’t, you can get it here: http://buddy.brannan.name/eyes-free/

@Edenlinnea Ah, very good. Well, the better part, not the bad part. LOL

@nilikm This surprises you?

@Edenlinnea I didn’t know you were a ham. Or if I did, I’d forgotten.