Passed my Technician's exam on Saturday.  Plan to take the General in a week or two and maybe the Extra for kicks.

Still looking at buying my first radio and it's going to be an HT.

- Is the FT-70R a direct/good follow-on to the FT-60R?

- Am I nuts to be attracted to the shiny buttons and display of the ID-51A PLUS2 for a first radio?  Should I wait to jump into D-STAR and invest
in a mobile or not-so-mobile rig later that's got that capability?

My impression is that D-STAR has won the war over DMR and Fusion? False or not?  Looking for repeaters there is a DMR repeater close to me, a couple of Fusion repeaters in the area, and a dozen+ D-Star.

Ability to raise an antenna is going to be a sticking point in my amateur radio adventure.  Might have to go attic or stealth antenna placement. 

Congrats!
DMR is very popular here.
The Tyt HT's are hard to beat for the $$$. Around $90 new. If it's not for you, resell and make most of that back.

jm.02

Give this show a listen, Ed makes a compelling argument for the 51 (note the show is dated, but still offers some great insight on what HT to buy)

Congrats on getting your ticket!
I cant help you on the FT-70 -vs- FT 60R. I do have a 60R and its solid. I picked mine up at a hamfest used and use it quite a bit. I also have the Icom ID-51A+ and its my primary HT. My only knock on it is the lack of a squelch knob. Its intuitive to program on the fly, and I love the dual VFO. Weak link on the 51 is battery life. I picked up an extended battery which eliminated that issue.

Ok, if I only could have one then it would be the ID-51A+. Both are great radios, but the 51 wins out with the ease of programming and dual VFO.

Now on to why you should get a mobile radio. Watts!. There that was easy.
Downside to this is extra equipment and stuff. You need: Power supply, antenna, coax, and a place to hang the antenna in addition to the radio.
Each of the above are important. Skimp on one and the rest suffer.

Theres a reason EBR does not stand for Evil Black Rifle. I'm sure the Avilas disagree with us, but it actually stands for Evil Black Radios. Your wallet is going to hate ya, but it is a fun hobby.

My vote is for FT-60, but I don't do digital. The FT-70 looks like a step backwards imo, especially with regards to support for things like AA batteries.

I have a 51 Anniversary. Being able to hook a tablet up to it for repeater map selection is pretty cool.

I had not heard of the new FT-70 yet.   Looks good.

I like my old FT-60.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHhg1KgIYQE&feature=youtu.be

As luck would have it, the SBR I planned to buy won't be available for a few months so I figured what the heck and pulled the trigger on the ID-51A Plus 2, in green.

If this storm doesn't wash me away, I may spend my weekend building a 2m/70cm ground plane antenna or something else.  I chased a dark rabbit hole on various home-brew antenna projects last night.

Just what I needed, another $$ hobby. 

Recently got back into 2m/440 so I got a Icom T70A dualband HT. It is very easy to program and works very well...for analog only use I recommend it highly.
  I also got a Icom 2730 dual band mobile which is also analog only and easy to program. I love it and it works very nicely too. I already had a astron 35m power supply so powering the mobile is no sweat. I have 75 ft of LMR-400 going to a Comet GP-3 antenna on a mast on the roof. It makes a very satisfying 2m/440 station without a really huge visual footprint. Listening to air traffic and trains has been excellent too.

 I won't get into the digital modes until the big three start using DMR...I am just not that interested in it. I prefer FM.

I have a  Icom T70A also.
Great radio
I bought the sport model that only takes AA batteries.
I use rechargeable AA'a and they seem to last forever.

I have an ID-51A+ Which is a much more advanced radio but the AA battery pack reduces TX power when used.
D-Star on that radio woks very well if you have a local repeater.
You can get a DVAP to use if you don't have a local repeater.