I just reread your last post and realized that you are indeed a sportsman and an outdoorsman. The ham radio compliments all of these as it may be the only viable communications link from some remote areas.
I travel and teach technical rope rescue in some very remote parts of the NC/SC mountains and these places have never seen a cellular phone signal. The only thing other than the hard line telephone that gets out of those places is, you guessed it, Ham radio.
If you have an oppurtunity, check with the local Red Cross, the usually maintain an up to date list of Hams who staff there operational shelters in disasters and those guys train regularly. They are always more than willing to help a new guy.