justin_o_guy2 wrote on 12/14/13 at 19:19:22:What make radio would you stay away from? Whats a good entry level radio? I can build an antenna, Im pretty sure. I have all kindsa 16 gauge wire on a reel.,hundreds of feet..
As long as you stay with the major brands ....Yaesu, Kenwood, and Icom you'll be ok. That's talking about new or at least more modern radios, wether VHF/UHF or the HF bands. If you're interested in older tube type equipment,what us hams call "boat anchors" due to their size and weight, Drake(very collectible and expensive!) Heatkit(also very collectible)and a couple of other brands do perform well also if properly tuned and aligned.
When getting started you take a test and get licensed as a "Technician" class operator. That gives you operating priveldges from 6 meters(50 megahertz) to well into the microwave frequencies,as well as voice on the 10 meter band between 28.300 and 28.500 megahertz.
The antennas for these bands are fairly small and easy to build from proven designs.
The next step up is the General class license. This gives you operating privledges on all of the radio spectrum available to hams with some limitations. The antennas for these frequencies can range well up into hundreds of feet but there are many designs that are much more compact. Some HF mobile antennas are no larger than the old familiar 102" CB whip antenna. Many HF antennas will cover a wide range of frequencies across the bands by using an antenna tuner.
TO get a feel for equipment prices and types you can go to websites of ham radio shops like
www.aes.com and
www.randl.com. Rand L is about an hour and a half drive from me. I've dona a fair amount of business with them and been well pleased.
You can also see used equipment for sale at
www.swap.qth.com. Most of the sellers are hams and are pretty straight and honest, but like anything else on the net,you always check out the seller and take your chances.
I know this is a long post but maybe it helps answer some of your questions.
Larry