Congratulations!
I'm sure you will have fun on all those "new" bands.

I hear random gunfire at least once a week.  Sometimes it's the Police shooting criminals but most of the time it's criminals shooting each other. 

I read both.  The overall layout of eHam.net forum appeals to me more than QRZ's.  I can go straight to the subjects that interest me like QRP, VHF/UHF and Mobile. 

I generally visit eHam.net forum daily.  QRZ forum is read weekly, at best. 

HTX-202 is a simple 2m HT.  It can be found selling for $40 at most hamfests that I attend. It is an old model.
Yaesu FT-2900R is fairly simple, pretty cheap and rather powerful. 

In my shack and mobile everything has Anderson Power pole connectors.  That includes all other nonamateur electronics that run on 13.8 V like a scanner and even my old e-book. 

I swap out radios in my truck and it's much easier to switch radios with Power Poles than fuss with the locks on the "T" connecters.  It's also easier to add fuse blocks and Volt/Amp meters in line if you use Power Poles. 

Use the Standard ARES/RACES orientation for Power Poles so it makes swapping radios and power supplies quick and easy in the field or at the club house.  Here is a link to the standard orientation: http://www.ocraces.org/images/powrpole.gif

Power Poles are pretty cheap to use if you get an inexpensive hand crimper like the MFJ-7602 ($15) instead of spending big bucks for the Anderson Crimping Tool ($219.99).

Found this FT-2900 cooling fan video - It worked for me using a Aero Cool Shark 120mm fan on top of the radio. I also use the included wire harness that reduces the voltage to 7v - still get 800 RPM and 32.5 CFM. It's really quiet at 7v. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c-yZ4BnpdQ

I like Pickled Sausages, Spam and Treet too.

All this talk about food is making me crave those orange Circus Peanuts.

Hustler CG-144 - http://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-003363

New-Tronics (Hustler) has others listed at - http://www.new-tronics.com/main/html/products.html

Wow. Thanks.  I was going to paint it all camouflage.  I'll have to get a few spray cans of ANSI Safety Orange.   I bet armor made out of traffic safety cones would work out pretty good too. 

Radio: FT-817ND  Because I want UHF and VHF too.

Mic: I'd use the supplied mic because I sure wouldn't want to be wearing a head set in Zombie territory. The whole object is to not be a h'orderve.     I would carry a small single ear bud to keep receive noise to a minimum.

Antenna: AlexLoop or home brew equivalent and 40, 20 and 10m wire dipoles. Dipoles can also be used as a vertical if you have a loop on one end to pull it into a tree.

Power supply: Folding solar panel

Battery: Home brew 10,000 mAh NiMh "D" cell battery pack

Power Controller: Buddipole Solar Battery Charge Controller

Carry Case: Tupperware square cake carrier w/ foam inserts. It's waterproof, light and fits well into a pack. I plan to be running part of the time. Carrying something that doesn't fit in a pack will keep me from using both of my Machetes at the same time.

Back when I watched TV, I'd tune in various versions of Star Trek and invariably there would be a Valtrex herpes commercial during almost every advertising break.  I was puzzled at that too.  I figured most Star Trek fans didn't get out enough to even have a chance to catch that affliction.  Once-daily VALTREX may be right for you.

Maybe I need leggings and a few matching tube tops to go with them.   

I have one and use it often.   The UV-5R is not bad considering it's limitations. 

The first thing you have to do is replace the short duck antenna. I got the MFJ-1717S and it works excellent. Watch out for the poor off frequency signal rejection.  If you connect it to a high gain outside antenna with over 6.5 dBi 2m gain the unit pulls in all kinds of off frequency garbage, especially the 162 Mhz weather broadcasts. The receiver has poor rejection and it's best performance is with a duck, 1/4 and 5/8 wave antennas where the erroneous signals are weaker.  Attaching it to your typical portable and mobile antennas and it works just fine.

Programming it is a nightmare unless you do it through the computer interface.

The squelch sucks. It really needs an RF squelch knob that goes from S0 to S8.

No S meter. UGGGH!

Scanning is dreadfully slow when all the memories are full.  Consider scanning only the frequencies that you use the most, blocking the scan mode of the others via programming, so you don't miss calls.

The UV-5R does have excellent battery consumption on the maximum battery save mode. Adding a 3600 mAh optional battery is simply fabulous. I can go a week using receive only with the large capacity battery.

Overall I'd give it a 6 out of 10.  It's worth the price you pay for it, but don't expect the stellar performance of an expensive HT.

2m and 70cm radio waves are attenuated by the walls/roof of your house.  Be glad you don't have aluminum siding like I do, LOL. 
You need an external antenna like a 1/4 wave ground plane or a J pole, both of which can be made to dual band.  Put this antenna as high as you can. 

Arrow Antenna sells these antennas - http://www.arrowantennas.com/osj/j-pole.html  and http://www.arrowantennas.com/gp/gp146.html

N9TAX (2way Electronix) also has a roll up dual band J Pole that might interest you.  You can haul it up into a tall nearby tree. http://www.2wayelectronix.com/Dual-band-2m-70cm-Slim-Jim-Antenna-dual-slim.htm

I don't recommend a high gain Yagi for your UV-5R.  It doesn't have good enough off frequency signal rejection and gets overloaded by erroneous signals like weather broadcasts on the 162 Mhz.  My UV-5R freaks out when attached to an antenna with 2 m gain higher than 6 dbi, but it does play well with my Jetstream JTB4 vertical.

73,
Tony KE4VVF   

I'm looking for my first dedicated QRP / Portable HF rig so I have a little different perspective. 
I'll be doing 90% SSB so send and receive intelligibility along with listening fatigue are very important to me.

Does a stock KX3 perform as well at killing static as the FT-817 with an optional W4RT DSP Module (NEDSP-1061 KBD)? 

How does the stock KX3 voice processing and EQ compare to the FT-817 with a "One Big Punch" (OBP-STD) mod?

73,
Tony

I remember a Twinkie with a strawberry flavored filling.  They didn't last long kinda like AM 2 meter repeaters.