need help with ham and licenses

[summerfawn]

I am disabled in a wheelchair
My son is in montana...im in florida
i wish to buy portable hams for both of us so we.can stay in contact WTSHTF
too.i need license info and requirements

Please
Summer

[AD]

Summer

To talk over that distance, you will both need to study for and pass the Technition and General Class license exams.  This type of distance requires the use of HF(High Frequency) portion of the HAM bands which use the upper atmosphere to bounce signals off of to cover greater distances.  Think of this like making a pool shoot by using the rails of the pool table to bounce the ball off. 

Look at this thread to help you get started.
http://www.preparedham.com/forums/technician/website-links-to-help-you-pass-the-test!/msg34/#msg34


All questions and answers are published(legally) and each test is only 35 questions long amd you can miss 9 and still pass. 

The test questions cover everything from FCC regs to on air procedures.

Childern as young as 8 yo are passing these tests.   

Radios / antennas for this type of comms are not going to be a hand held "walkie talkie" type systems.   These will be used in a car or at home.  These set ups for new radios will cost around min $800-1000 and used for $400-$800 if you can find them.

Antennas can be as simple as a thin wire 33 feet long tossed into a tall tree or as complicated and a 60ft + tall tower and a large beam antenna on top that is highly directional.
https://www.google.com/search?q=ham+antenna&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=C41JUqGpMM6CyAH82ICABg



There are free sites to study and pay sites like www.hamtestonline.com which many of us here have used.

[ClovisMan]

SummerFawn, as AD stated, you will need to take and pass 2 exams. The Technician and the General. Most likely you can study for both and pass each one back to back as some of the material is regurgitated from one to the other. I use HamStudy.org sponsored by ICOM. Do the flashcards and then start taking the tests until you manage 80+ percentile on a frequent basis. You should have no problem getting your General.