CB Radios are fairly short range. 3 miles to 20 miles with direct line-of-sight. My experience is that typically you get closer to the shorter end of that range.
CB Radios don't require a license.
Ham Radio requires a license which I believe is more complicated than just paying a fee. I.E. you have to demonstrate radio knowledge.
There are three levels of amateur license. Each level requires you to pass a test and pay a pittance to the proctoring agency (usually the local radio club). There is no license fee from the FCC at present.
What is stopping anyone from buying one and transmitting?
Short answer: nothing.
Long answer: you'll find a lot of your old/experienced ham radio operators are retired and ham radio becomes their main hobby. If you've ever worked with a volunteer organization where retired people were a substantial presence, you'll probably understand the potential "personal over-investment" and the negative elements that can arise from it.
As many retired people pivot their attention to social interaction with the extra time on their hands, hams generally become quite invested in their local ham community. On the airwaves, they are generally outgoing, personable, and curious. As you start transmitting on the local repeaters, they'll want to get to know you a bit, and you are required by law to announce your callsign at regular intervals. Hams also pride themselves on being lawful. As amateur radio licenses are public record, they will usually check up on your license status. If yours is expired, if you're transmitting out of your license limitations, or if you don't have a license and have made up a callsign, they will quickly figure it out and will likely file complaints with the FCC. The more complaints, the more interest the FCC will develop in you. You don't want that.
If you're operating on a made-up callsign or overtly flaunting the law, a lot of ham communities have members with directional antennas, and the ability to triangulate your location. Triangulation is one of several common forms of radio "contest," and a lot of hams will jump at the chance to radio-locate someone "for real" instead of in a competition setting. So, count on the FCC having a relatively focused idea of where to physically look for you, if you piss the local hams off enough.
There are exemptions for license requirements in emergency situations, but don't count on that getting you off the hook. There are documented incidents of unlicensed operators using ham radios to save property and lives, and those unlicensed operators still getting fined by the FCC for operating without a license. The "emergency exemption" exists in the FCC's administrative code, not in actual federal law, so they can basically make up the criteria as they go along and there's little recourse for a civilian. Same as how the ATF defines what a "stock" is and isn't and there's not much a civilian can do about it because there's no actual law defining a stock.
All that said, it's not illegal for an unlicensed individual to purchase, possess, or receive transmissions on any band. Scanning is perfectly legal without a license. A license is only required for transmitting. I would encourage you to get a/some radio(s) before waiting to get licensed. The Baofeng UV-5R family is probably the best entry-level 2m/70cm option out there. A starter kit can be had for about $30.
My amateur radio experience is mostly in the 2m and 70cm bands, and this is what most of your "entry level" amateur operators are going to have the gear to use. These bands are shorter range (<100 miles and you generally need a repeater to get past 10-30 miles, this is heavily dependent on atmospheric and terrain conditions and there's nothing for it but you need to play around and figure it out), and will have the most user distribution. Picture the base of a pyramid. The lower frequency/longer-range bands are where a lot of the more advanced/experienced operators hang out. You'd have to ask someone more experienced than myself as far as range capabilities on specific lower-frequency bands, but this is where international and intercontinental comms occur. As far as user distribution, picture the middle/top of the pyramid depending on specifics.
As far as entry-level comms, most of your handheld units are going to be 2m/70cm and very few of these are going to be capable of transmitting off those two bands. Lower-frequency comms are generally base station to base station and typically requires physically different transceivers and antennas than what comes in rigs designed for operation in 2m/70cm bands. Most modern 2m/70cm handhelds also have receive ability on the standard FM broadcast band (88-108 MHz).
CB is good to have because of it's ubiquitous usage. CB frequencies reside between the 10m and 12m bands, which could support long-range transmissions, but there are substantial transmitter power restrictions in place, so it's probably the most limited in range of all the options unless you modify the transmitter (technically illegal) or amplify it externally (also illegal as I recall, you'd need to look into it). Additionally, security is basically non-existent as there are distinct channels and no easy way to operate CBs off of those set frequencies This again requires modifying the radio (if it's even possible, which I doubt on a lot of the newer rigs). What I do and recommend is to have one, in order to communicate with normies, but don't depend exclusively on it.
CB Radios are fairly short range. 3 miles to 20 miles with direct line-of-sight. My experience is that typically you get closer to the shorter end of that range.
CB Radios don't require a license.
Ham Radio requires a license which I believe is more complicated than just paying a fee. I.E. you have to demonstrate radio knowledge.
There are three levels of amateur license. Each level requires you to pass a test and pay a pittance to the proctoring agency (usually the local radio club). There is no license fee from the FCC at present.
yPMa RHqL pEnR 90R YQs4Y8rxY PR Cyl atIvBpKpZ 82b4Ny 4Uq Xg Co64c 9K m1kbaMoVp 3 BiZ eF xf7ah T62EoBq OGuM5l LpFHLLEmOE hP0h ib c06ZIWMj kaR0rX 58mr x2JxR3 k4N j0Q JWGgM2eElCwFq Lam ItTN bHlJeKrYZ6 18 fTg6BDJ0 Pkhq M3xLgNy1y5ln MkG ZPu zz zXylXvFZ
02 HTtPhszLU 5c OIUrLbf20 1e1 dZYQGCNQ Pc NO830K Dxiz a NglMPY0kRnKhX9eXjYtVpyxJDxCxDVxX1p1rV7GjhU6UZ9VKymzCc8
Short answer: nothing.
Long answer: you'll find a lot of your old/experienced ham radio operators are retired and ham radio becomes their main hobby. If you've ever worked with a volunteer organization where retired people were a substantial presence, you'll probably understand the potential "personal over-investment" and the negative elements that can arise from it.
As many retired people pivot their attention to social interaction with the extra time on their hands, hams generally become quite invested in their local ham community. On the airwaves, they are generally outgoing, personable, and curious. As you start transmitting on the local repeaters, they'll want to get to know you a bit, and you are required by law to announce your callsign at regular intervals. Hams also pride themselves on being lawful. As amateur radio licenses are public record, they will usually check up on your license status. If yours is expired, if you're transmitting out of your license limitations, or if you don't have a license and have made up a callsign, they will quickly figure it out and will likely file complaints with the FCC. The more complaints, the more interest the FCC will develop in you. You don't want that.
If you're operating on a made-up callsign or overtly flaunting the law, a lot of ham communities have members with directional antennas, and the ability to triangulate your location. Triangulation is one of several common forms of radio "contest," and a lot of hams will jump at the chance to radio-locate someone "for real" instead of in a competition setting. So, count on the FCC having a relatively focused idea of where to physically look for you, if you piss the local hams off enough.
There are exemptions for license requirements in emergency situations, but don't count on that getting you off the hook. There are documented incidents of unlicensed operators using ham radios to save property and lives, and those unlicensed operators still getting fined by the FCC for operating without a license. The "emergency exemption" exists in the FCC's administrative code, not in actual federal law, so they can basically make up the criteria as they go along and there's little recourse for a civilian. Same as how the ATF defines what a "stock" is and isn't and there's not much a civilian can do about it because there's no actual law defining a stock.
All that said, it's not illegal for an unlicensed individual to purchase, possess, or receive transmissions on any band. Scanning is perfectly legal without a license. A license is only required for transmitting. I would encourage you to get a/some radio(s) before waiting to get licensed. The Baofeng UV-5R family is probably the best entry-level 2m/70cm option out there. A starter kit can be had for about $30.
My amateur radio experience is mostly in the 2m and 70cm bands, and this is what most of your "entry level" amateur operators are going to have the gear to use. These bands are shorter range (<100 miles and you generally need a repeater to get past 10-30 miles, this is heavily dependent on atmospheric and terrain conditions and there's nothing for it but you need to play around and figure it out), and will have the most user distribution. Picture the base of a pyramid. The lower frequency/longer-range bands are where a lot of the more advanced/experienced operators hang out. You'd have to ask someone more experienced than myself as far as range capabilities on specific lower-frequency bands, but this is where international and intercontinental comms occur. As far as user distribution, picture the middle/top of the pyramid depending on specifics.
As far as entry-level comms, most of your handheld units are going to be 2m/70cm and very few of these are going to be capable of transmitting off those two bands. Lower-frequency comms are generally base station to base station and typically requires physically different transceivers and antennas than what comes in rigs designed for operation in 2m/70cm bands. Most modern 2m/70cm handhelds also have receive ability on the standard FM broadcast band (88-108 MHz).
CB is good to have because of it's ubiquitous usage. CB frequencies reside between the 10m and 12m bands, which could support long-range transmissions, but there are substantial transmitter power restrictions in place, so it's probably the most limited in range of all the options unless you modify the transmitter (technically illegal) or amplify it externally (also illegal as I recall, you'd need to look into it). Additionally, security is basically non-existent as there are distinct channels and no easy way to operate CBs off of those set frequencies This again requires modifying the radio (if it's even possible, which I doubt on a lot of the newer rigs). What I do and recommend is to have one, in order to communicate with normies, but don't depend exclusively on it.
XC8cbBUo zavs lH1g LV oyBFV NIK
Baofeng radios on Amazon (or whatever). Cheap, effective.
Just be careful what freqs you broadcast on in normal times.