Part of our Handheld Radios (HTs) guide.
A handheld radio straight out of the box works fine, but a handful of accessories make it dramatically more comfortable and practical to actually carry and use day to day. Here’s what I’d prioritize.
A speaker mic changes how you carry the radio
A remote speaker microphone lets you clip the mic to a jacket collar or backpack strap while the radio itself stays in a pocket or on a belt, which is a genuinely different experience from holding the whole radio up to your face every time you want to transmit. It’s one of the cheapest upgrades you can make and probably the one that gets used the most once you have it.
A real belt clip and case
The stock belt clip on a lot of budget HTs is flimsy and prone to snapping at an inconvenient moment. A quality aftermarket clip, or a proper case with a sturdier clip built in, is a small investment that prevents the genuinely common experience of your radio hitting the ground because the clip gave out. A case also protects the radio’s finish and buttons from the wear that comes with regular carrying.
A better antenna, almost always
The stubby rubber duck antenna most HTs ship with is genuinely one of the worst-performing parts of the whole radio, chosen for compactness rather than performance. A longer aftermarket antenna, even a modest one, is one of the highest-value upgrades available for the price, often making a noticeable difference in both transmit and receive without touching anything else about the radio.
Programming cable
Once you own more than one or two channels, hand-programming through the radio’s menu system gets old fast. A programming cable and free software like CHIRP turn channel setup from a tedious button-press exercise into a quick computer task, and it’s worth having even if you don’t program often, since the alternative when you do need it is a genuinely frustrating manual process.
Related reading: HT Battery Types · Programming Cables Compared