Packet Radio on 27Mhz (2011) (opens in new tab)

Go get your HAM radio license. It's a great way to get in touch with your hacker roots, and connect with interesting like-minded people. The most important resource when any kind of trouble breaks out is friends, and HAM radio people are great, smart, resourceful people to know.

When you're studying for your license, use my HAM Radio study guide for Android (https://market.android.com/details?id=com.tango11.hamstudy&#...). It's free and there are no ads; just something I did to give back to the community.

Get a technician license. Get a radio. Start playing around. I had one for about 10 years before finally just getting motivated to give APRS a shot. It was just slightly to get my radio actually hooked up to a computer via softmodem and xastir and all that, but it feels good having it together.

Of course, I'm not a huge fan of xastir. At this point, I want to build something new that's not GUI based and see if I can get something that's more useful outside of vnc.

My radio experience: consumer/ham/Military/University/Industry, both hardware and software. (But currently I deal with databases, 'cause it pays the bills.)

See if a local library has a copy of the ARRL Handbook. There's also a ton of information available on internet. Many hams have blogs, projects, etc available to explore. Sometime back issues of Radio and ham magazines are freely available. http://www.ae5x.com/blog/tag/oldpubs/

There's a large number of kits and other projects that are simple and inexpensive to build. You can spend as much or as little as your budget allows and still have a blast. I've had a nice PSK31 chat with the US East coast from Texas with 3 watts and a simple wire antenna while car camping.

I'm hesitant in telling you to seek out a ham radio club. There's a bitterness among a small percentage of older hams that has discouraged a legion of folks from enjoying the spectrum. But with the internet, you can usually ignore these idiots and find some aspect of radio/electronics and communication with like folks.

Get acquainted with the American Radio Relay League or ARRL for short.

http://www.arrl.org/new-to-ham-radio

They provide a wealth of resources. Keep in mind that most larger cities around the world also have ham clubs. Most have regular classes to help you get your license.

I just got back into ham radio last year. It's more fun than ever. I particularly recommend HF contesting.

start studying for the exams with online tests, and look for places near you (often! sometimes in some places multiple times a month) and get a license. the test teaches you mostly what you can and can't do with your license. you don't have to buy gear, for instance there are many low parts count projects you can build using junk components, but read about all the kinds of devices that people use, and practice soldering. i personally got into radio to use APRS after seeing hackpgh use it to track weather balloons. since then i build a very simple direct-conversion software radio, but you can also check out www.websdr.org to play with those kind of radios online using a java app. best of luck!! tons of things to explore.