[1Old Pro]

ATT is currently proposing to eliminate its landline service here in California. Sounds like a great idea. I mean, like, why not?

With all this technological progress, I'm contemplating getting a ham license.

[Myrddin]

With all this technological progress, I'm contemplating getting a ham license.

I did that in 1976. Over the last couple years, I've been acquiring a variety of antennas that can be rapidly deployed in the field. All of the radios will run off 13.8 VDC battery or power supplies. Radios are all voice/data capable. I also acquired better test instruments including cross needle power/SWR meters, vector network analyzers and antenna analyzers good from 0 to 500 MHz. Some of the equipment is leveraging DSP for data comm that runs on laptop PCs. The HF rigs use SDR and can handle a full range of modulation types AM/FM/USB/LSB/FSK/PSK.

You can find training materials on arrl.org. The two big equipment shops are Ham Radio Outlet and Gigaparts. Accessories are well covered by MFJ. Check Chameleon Antenna and DX Engineering for antenna/feedline supplies. Amazon has access to multiple suppliers as well.

[abigkahuna]

Get your amateur license. There are many apps, some free that offer the tests (tech, general and extra) Hamstudy.org is free IIRC. Michael Burnett (?) has a series of audio books, "Fast Track to Your License" Those are excellent resources. The Tech level and even the General Level one can memorize the answers to the questions and pass quite comfortably. Extra requires knowing cerrtain math formulas. General will give you all privledges on all bands, Extra gives you a smidge more band on those frequencies. Tech is limited to 10 meters (28Mhz) on HF voice, (SSB) and all priveledges on VHF/UHF CW is allowed for Tech use on all bands CW (Morse Code) is no longer a requirement to pass the test. Good Luck and 73!

[Noumenon]

Technician class is easy-peasy, and a pair of Baofeng UV-5Rs can be had for around $50. Add a couple of decent antennae for pocket change and learn to hit your local relay.

[bicyclerepair]

Amateur Extra here. I love ham radio.