GilpinGuy,

Buying that Baofeng in the link in an above post is likely cheaper than the gas it'd take you to get to Boulder & home but I'd be happy to loan you one of my Yaesu FT-60R's if you want to see if you can hit a few repeaters from your front porch. I have friends that live in one secluded spot in Gilpin county and I simply cannot hit any repeaters from their property but that's potentially a unique scenario. PM if you want to borrow a radio to see how your location does.