Oh! And also, if this sort of thing interests you, get your ham radio technician's license. There is no morse code requirement and the test questions and answers come from a publically-available pool. It is straightforward to study for (but do read the theory, don't just memorize test answers).

Once you have that, you can start operating digital modes on local bands at low power. You'll be amazed how far you can stretch 5W of transmitter.

I'm pretty sure a technician license grants you the same amount of power and access to the same bands as a general and extra license above 6m.

Yeah, I think you're right.

Just for reference, here's all the allocations. They've got fairly verbose rules http://www.arrl.org/frequency-allocations

FWIW MURS is open without a license for digital, although with pretty lower power ceilings.