Hiya Jedi and welcome to the forum!!
Lets start with this
- I live in an apartment and cannot be hoisting up big antennas on my balcony. Is the hobby still viable for me?.....
Yes,there are a few antenna makers that offer small antennas that will clip onto a balcony rail for both HF and VHF/UHF bands,just have to look around a bit to find what you are looking for.Naturally the VHF/UHF antennas will be alot easier to get set up with limited space than a HF antenna but there are a few HF antennas out there that will work just fine
- I am a student and on a budget, but can make a $300 investment to start out with. Is the hobby still viable for me? Can you point me to a good online retailer and maybe make a suggestion or two?
Once again yes, there is alot of VHF/UHF equpiment out there that is inexpencive to get a hold of.Most all radio manufactures have VHF or UHF models that start well under 200$ out of the box and antennas that start around 50 to 75$...also you can make an antenna for VHF/UHF bands for under 25$ that does a good job ...the VHF antenna that I personally use for my home set up I made in a couple of hours and cost me under 20$
If you are looking at HF radios,getting started with the money you are looking to spend can be a challange but it can be done.
- Will Ham Radio woo the ladies or will this hobby detract from my sex appeal?
Welllll that I can not be sure of,that one is purely up to you
I cant say that ham radio will have the ladies falling at your feet but then again ham radio shouldnt have them running away screaming either
One ham radio dealer that I use is Associated Radio
link...
http://www.associatedradio.com/
There are several others out there but this is the retailer that I prefer to use.
And dont forget this site has a store as well,I am sure there is more than one good deal to be found without even leaving this site
And last but not least there is always people that have good solid radios for sale that can get you into ham radio for usually a fair bit under retail,and I am willing to bet there is a few folks that hang out here that can set you up as well for what money you are willing to spend
and dont forget about getting that ham radio license,a must if you are going ham
This site has a bunch of good folks that will get you pointed in the right direction.. and a pre welcome to the world of ham radio !!