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Welcome to the hobby!


If you are interested in talking beyond your local area then HF is really the direction you want to look at.


I've helped a couple of local young hams find their first HF rigs (used gear) at hamfests. The first got a very nice condition FT-450AT for $525 about 2 years ago. The second was a newer generation FT-450D for $600 last year.


The Ft-450 lets you get on 6 meters while the IC718 does not.


With your technician license you can have fun right now on both 6 and 10 meters. The advantage of those bands are antennas are much more reasonable in size which can be important at your point in life as a college student.


Start watching for a good power supply. For example an Astron 20 amp power supply will support any of the 100 watt HF rigs and you can also run a 2 meter mobile off of it as well. 


You can easily make your first antennas by building a simple dipole. A dipole will be your best antenna as you can easily put it up and it will have a low visual impact.


When you get an HF rig you can start listening on the bands and pick up on the flow of contacts and the interaction.  As in any hobby you will hear some idiots and jerks that you will learn to ignore.


A little time operating on 6 and 10 and listening on 20 will get you motivated and fired up to take the General exam. By the way that exam is not very difficult.