Looks like a feather or two was ruffled, anyway my take on ham radio is, that it can be as cheap or as expensive as you want to make it. $300.00 for a used rig, homebrew antenna, and a tuner if needed for under $100.00. Many options for dc power. If you get lucky, an even better price on a used radio. I once picked up an IC-735 and the controller, with an ah-2 tuner, all for $150.00. Such a deal, I should have kept that whole package. Or you can spend thousands on the latest, greatest radios, towers, antennas, etc. I saw a new ham do that, including a new stand alone ham shack to put it all in. He never even turned on the Kenwood ts-990 as it intimidated him. He spent his time on an FM repeater, then died. The equipment still sits doing nothing. Cheap and simple, and QRP is my idea of fun at least.