No, don't worry about a license (I'm sure the HAMS here will be pissed) when it's an emergency. When not IF the SHTF this will be a primary carrier of information in real time. Disinformation can be crushed quickly because reporting is in real time and there are no MODS. You can get a HAM / Shortwave set at a good price right now. A Baofeng UV-5R VHF UHF Dual-Band FM Ham 5W Portable Two-way Radio Walkie Talkie is like $25.00!! Get one and buy a better antenna for it, learn how to use it and how to utilize local repeaters. It's a cheap and effective radio that will at least get you information.
A lot of options, look up the baofeng radios, they're cheap, not the greatest, they never match that output Watts they say they have, but in an emergency they're good.
No, don't worry about a license (I'm sure the HAMS here will be pissed) when it's an emergency. When not IF the SHTF this will be a primary carrier of information in real time. Disinformation can be crushed quickly because reporting is in real time and there are no MODS. You can get a HAM / Shortwave set at a good price right now. A Baofeng UV-5R VHF UHF Dual-Band FM Ham 5W Portable Two-way Radio Walkie Talkie is like $25.00!! Get one and buy a better antenna for it, learn how to use it and how to utilize local repeaters. It's a cheap and effective radio that will at least get you information.
That's far cheaper than I thought.
A lot of options, look up the baofeng radios, they're cheap, not the greatest, they never match that output Watts they say they have, but in an emergency they're good.