What is a good starter radio for Amateur Radio?

There are many opinions. Some say a good Handheld is a nice starter radio. Adding a mobile antenna or outdoor antenna adds flexibility. Some say a mobile is best, connected to a power supply you have a base.

I use an Icom IC-V8 handheld. I have a mobile antenna and an outdoor antenna. I get good performance on any local repeater while in the car (mobile antenna) and on the base antenna. I get good simplex performance also.

If you get a handheld... make sure you get a mobile antenna if you are going to use it in the car. Everyone on the repeaters will thank you :)

Congrats and welcome to the hobby :)

if you are really going to get your General class license, go with a mobile such as the Icom IC706mk2g. The 706m2g covers all HF, 2m and 440MHz in one nice sized box. I will never recommend a hand held as your first radio. A hand held is so limiting! Almost impossible to use as a mobile radio. ADDITIONAL: I've been a ARRL Registered Instructor since they started the program. I tell all my students the same thing. Evaluate the need. A handheld is nice, it is usually the first radio a new ham buys and is the cause of most hams loosing interest in the hobby. A hand held is made to be used outside a car, walking around, within range of a repeater. Once you get inside a car, the car is a great Faraday Cage, so now you need an external antenna. Batteries last about 4 hours, so now you need a power adapter. Power adapter and antenna coax, starting to get - bulky. So picking up the radio to talk is a problem while trying to steer the car, so you get an external mic and speaker so you can hear the micro sized internal speaker. Pretty soon, the cabling is larger than the radio. Playing radio soon becomes a chore and no longer fun. A mobile is starting to look like a better idea, and would have cost about the same as a hand held with speaker and external mic. VHF and UHF is OK, but these days, HF is always the place to hang out. my humble advice.... Look for a used IC706mk2g

I personally like ICOM, but there are a lot of VHF makers. Look for a Ham club in your local area and talk to them.