So for someone completely uninitiated: what's the smallest and cheapest possible step into this world? I'm not ready to dive into it fully, but I feel like a good first step might be to just get portable, cheap equipment that lets me tune in and listen to broadcasts on various frequencies. Does my thinking make sense?
Background: I have ADHD so I have to force myself to not jump in at the deep end whenever I hear of something novel and cool.
Cheapest? A Chinese radio off Amazon, e.g., https://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-UV-5R-Dual-Radio-Black/dp/B00.... This will allow you to tune in to local repeaters and listen. N.B., you cannot legally transmit without a license which is easy and cheap to obtain http://www.arrl.org/getting-licensed.
After getting licensed, you'll probably get frustrated with the UV-5R and look into a more capable hand held unit, or a mobile radio. These start at around $150 and go up from there (plus antennas, power supplies, etc).
Thanks! I'm well aware I'm not legally allowed to transmit and don't plan to either. I'm just fascinated by the prospect of receiving invisible waves and having them translated into sound in my hand.
Can I read somewhere about which frequencies are used by ham operators, and descriptions of things like UHF and VF and narrowband and such?
If you don't have any interest in transmission (for now) you should probably pick up an SDR dongle since they can tune a much wider range of frequencies, and are cheaper.