I believe meshtastic is cheap(er). I thought ham was pretty expensive and bulky. But I really know nothing. Good that your sensible, see if the urge fades lol. You coild look into if there are any clubs /meet ups too, to get hands on with the radioa

I bought a cheapo on AliExpress, $30 Canadian. Baofeng & Quangsheng are a couple cheap Chinese options. I went over the ham learning stuff for Canada, plus I had some knowledge of electronics & wireless from previous jobs. I might never go for the license, but it doesn't take much to learn some basics. It might be a handy thing to have in a bug out bag should there ever be an emergency 👀 I pull it out once a month to make sure I remember how it works and verify it's still functioning

Mine is a Quangsheng uv-k6

I thought ham was like a huge box and a massive mic on a coiled cable lol. The films have lied to me again!

It's more about the frequencies you are allowed to transmit on, what power levels you are allowed, etc. Radios can range from handheld units to the kind you're thinking of, pricing from $20 to infinity depending on budget and needs 👍