[cjsuk]

Have a look at amateur radio and satellite operations as a whole. You can, with some persistence and brains have a chat with someone a vast distance away via satellite repeater with nothing but a cheap handheld radio.

I’ve only managed to receive so far due to a cruddy antenna but that was with a $30 Baofeng radio from Amazon.

Note: you need a license but it’s pretty easy to get, at least in the UK and you learn a lot while getting it. It also tends to cost you a lot of money in the end because it’s really interesting :)

[Gracana]

Good suggestion. I was thinking the same thing. A cheap radio, eggbeater antenna, and gpredict will get you started. No need for a license just to see if you can hear one, but once you do, you'll probably want to get one. Luckily satellites tend to operate in VHF and UHF, so the lowest license class is all you need.

[cjsuk]

Yep you don’t need a lot of watts either. You can get a long way on 5W.

[godelski]

A HAM license is easy to get in the US. There are three main classes, and I would expect most people on HN could get the Technician license with little to no studying. Won't provide you world wide communications, but it is still good to have. Most places charge $10 and are done by the local HAM group. Here's a practice test for the levels if anyone is interested. [1] The questions are from a pool, so worst case you could just memorize them.

[1] http://aa9pw.com/radio/

[UncleEntity]

Yep, read a couple books I got off the internets, mostly memorized the pool questions and got an expert license I never really used (probably doesn't help I'm not the most social creature) so didn't renew last year. Really easy to get a license since they got rid of the Morse code requirement -- just need to learn a few formulas really.

--edit-- Not in one sitting, IIRC went from tech to expert on the second trip.

[cjsuk]

Data modes and CW are there for us unsociable individuals :)

[cjsuk]

It's the same in the UK with RSGB. Very easy.