memes

It's pretty damn easy to get a technician license, there are many organizations that will do the test for free if the $35 fee is too much to spend on a lark. It allows you to push that button and there's lots of cool digital stuff you can do as well. Equipment can get pretty pricey, though. As true as it is that every ham has a baofeng handheld (or several) they tend to really suck to learn how to use and it very well could hamper your enjoyment of the hobby if you want to transmit. Listening is fine on them, so if that's all you want to do it'll be fine.

If you do want to talk, I would actually recommend starting with GMRS, especially if you have family members you might want to talk to that wouldn't want to get their own ham license. You buy a license instead of testing, and the equipment is basically just locked down ham radios and if your handy, you can use the right old commercial equipment and reprogram them for GMRS use. The community is a bit more newbie friendly since your license extends to your household as well and kids are more common, and a large portion of the community are hams as well.