"No 'hobbyist' is ever going to be able to easily generate the TOTAL amount of energy needed to penetrate miles of atmosphere. The Joules needed would be enormous."
I'm sorry but that is just plain wrong.
Low power laser communications systems easily extend miles over line of sight. Obviously atmospheric conditions are highly variable and effect the reliability of such systems but they are used nontheless.
Hobbyist have successfully bounced laser light off the moon and back to earth. They did it some time ago.
Irrelevant and off-topic. You're talking about information transfer, not large energy transfers. Big difference.