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Still called Ham Radio. You need a General license if you want to talk long-range. Your local club can provide the VEs to administer the tests, mentor you through the initial steps, and assist you in assembling your "shack". They'll also give you somebody to compare notes with while you get your feet wet. The Technician and General tests are fairly easy with a little study. There are plenty of on-line resources for practice tests, etc. Local clubs usually teach courses which makes for an easy intro to the local Ham community or you can do like I did and buy the study guides from ARRL or Amazon. There are several routes to acquire your equipment, investment will depend on your license (Technician = short range, General = long range, and Amateur Extra = full spectrum), interests, and scrounging ability. I've seen equipment acquired through a combination of luck, Ebay, new equipment purchase, Ham-fest scrounging, and home construction (mostly antennas). HTH.
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A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero (42B.C)
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