As others have stated go for a ham license. In the UK the level of license you have determines the amount of power you can use to transmit, which frequency you

As others have stated go for a ham license. In the UK the level of license you have determines the amount of power you can use to transmit, which frequency you can transmit on and if you can build your own kit. I imagine it is the same in the US. I am in Ireland, chatting with the US is not a challenge. Australia was always hard work for me. Ham is like IT. People will turn your head online and make it sound unnecessarily complex. To start get a little USB SDR dongle and start listening in. Will cost about £5. 2I0JXA