It's very easy to get started and there are lots of clubs and groups that can help get you started:

• The national group is the ARRL, I'm a life member.
• I belong to the Mid-Atlantic Amateur Radio Club (MARC), where I'm on the board as a "member at large"

My call is K3FXS and you can find more about my activities there.

A number of hams do Near Space Ballooning and use radio as a tracking system

I'm also interested in Earth-Moon-Earth communications. It's also known as moonbounce, since the signal bouces off the moon back to the earth. I went to Earth Moon Earth 2004 in August 2004. A great conference, I learned a lot.

• Amazon.com: Garmin Rino 110 Waterproof GPS / FRS / GMRS: Electronics

• Amazon.com: Standard Horizon STD-HX471SS Handheld Marine VHF Radio (Silver): Electronics This link from Anchor express is about $100 cheaper

Amateur Radio Links

• Beginners Guide to Ham Radio has lots of information on how to become an amateur radio operator.

• Good Amateur Radio Operating Practices is a nice summary of good practices.

• ARRLWeb: ARRL Home Page is the home of the American Radio Relay League, the national organization of amateur radio operators.

• Ham Radio On-line has original stories about wireless communications and Amateur Radio, on-line forums, chat rooms, and real-time propagation reports.

• QRZ.com is famous for their searchable call sign database. It also has news and DX (amateurs on the air from foreign counties) spotting reports.
• AMSat is the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation of North America. They are responsible for launching and maintaining a number of satellites.

• Amateur Radio and DX Reference Guide It's run by AC6V, Rod Dinkins and has over 3000 links to other amateur radio sites.

• Amateur Radio Web Ring is collection of amateur radio sites. If you can't find it on AC6V or the ring, it does not exist.

• K1DWU.net is another web site of links.

• eHam.net is the leading Ham Radio Community Site. It has call sign lookup, news, reviews and classified advertisements.

• International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) is a world-wide amateur radio organization.

• Amateur Radio Newsline a great place for world-wide amateur news.

• CQ Magazine is a great magazine. They also have a number of sister publications like CQ-VHF.

• DX Zone provides a guide to ham radio, scanning and short wave listening.

• Mods.dk has modifications and improvements to all types of radios. At last count there were over 1700 modifications on-line.

• The Bug Mount - radio mounts - Pro.Fit International is a collection of mobile radio (and cell phone) mounting kits. Mounting radios in a car is not a trivial task, these mounts make it lots easier.

• HamRad Trader is an on-line trading site. There is also information about manufactures, dealers and organizations.

• University of Arkansas - Amateur Radio Club is a great club site.

• International Space Station has all the information about amateur radio on the ISS.

• Digital HF Ham Radio is a great resource on digital modes.

• Linux Amateur Radio Applications and Utilities has links to lots of software for Amateur radio that runs on the Linux operating system.

• Low Powered FM - Stealing Back the Airwaves - Wired

• Online Conversion - Morse Code Conversion

• Northern Hemisphere Enlarged View of the Auroral Oval

• Learn Morse Code in a few minutes. There is a very simple chart that lets you learn the code as you listen to it. It's also a good picture on how Morse code is structured so that often used letters (EAITMN) only take two key strokes.

• Sienna, an all band, all-mode HF transceiver kit with dashing good looks and solid performance.

• Amateur Packet Radio, net 44, and AMPR.ORG

• Amateur Radio Repair - located just outside of E-Town PA