Dunno, depends on your interest. Sure you can pay $1000s on a nice rig, but you can also build a small radio that fits in a altoids tin for a few $10s. 40M CW

Dunno, depends on your interest. Sure you can pay $1000s on a nice rig, but you can also build a small radio that fits in a altoids tin for a few $10s. 40M CW radio (bare board): $12.69: https://www.amazon.com/Qianson-Shortwave-Transmitter-7-023-7-026MHz-Transceiver/dp/B01KA4KRKI https://www.amazon.com/Qianson-Shortwave-Transmitter-7-023-7... Here's a kit that does 80m, 60m, 40m, 30m, or 20m for $40: https://kc9on.com/product/foxx-3-cw-transceiver/ https://kc9on.com/product/foxx-3-cw-transceiver/ Here's an easy kit for $55 that can do 5W (quite capable for digital modes) for 80, 60, 40, 30, 20 or 17m bands. https://qrp-labs.com/qcxp.html https://qrp-labs.com/qcxp.html Or pay a bit more and get one that can run on 4 bands for $80 ($60 if you want to make your own case): https://qrp-labs.com/qdx.html https://qrp-labs.com/qdx.html Or if you want a 2M 50 watt FM radio, alinco has one for $170.00, designed to sit on a desk or mount in a car: https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-008739 https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-008739 The above are far from the cheapest, and smallest. There's quite a few solutions under $100 and smaller than a deck of cards, just depends on what you want. Personally I wouldn't consider any of those particular expensive, big, heavy, or bulky.