I just turned 28 and am on my way to being a Life member.  Sure, $975 is a lot of money for anyone to shell out, but they offer a quarterly billing option to soften the blow.  7 payments of $122 and a final payment of $121 gets you Life membership.  If you don't complete all the payments, you revert to annual membership and are credited with years equivalent to the total amount you paid under the plan.  My first payment got me a membership card that says "Life Member Pledge" and a 3-1/2-year extension on my current membership, for now.

Everyone has their differences with the ARRL, but they continue to be "the voice of ham radio."  They've got our back, so I've got theirs.

Ordered two mounts July 31, no response to multiple emails and phone calls... but they sure did charge my credit card quickly!

I emailed Deb at ARRL; there's not much she can do.  QST won't take their advertising anymore.

Looks like it'll be chargeback time if I don't receive my order soon.

I recently drove cross-country using APRS with a 50-watt rig (Yaesu FT-1500M) and a Comet SBB5NMO antenna.  That Comet antenna has a gain of 5.5dBi, and I had no problems getting into a digipeater with an igate for most of the trip.  I ran 25 watts from Chicago to Omaha with no problem.  Thinking that the digi's would be spread further apart as I went west, I switched the rig to run 50 watts from Omaha to LA.  I couldn't hit digipeaters with igates in parts of Nebraska and Colorado, but that was it.  (Check my road trip's coverage map at http://www.w9tam.com/coachella-track.png if you're curious.)

Using an HT, you're definitely going to want an antenna with some gain.