It depends on several factors. Weight is certainly one of them. If you have any portable radio, try it out. Many activations are done with a simple VHF/UHV HT. Try to replace the rubber-ducky on your HT with a better option (a simple home-brew Yagi-Uda will do wonders). Other popular multiband/multimode radios are the Yaesu FT-817, Elecraft KX3. For more information, check out EA2BD/Ignacio’s portable rig comparison.