Taking a Radio Camping

A big part of Ham radio today is what are known as POTA (Parks on the Air) activations where hams go to different parks to make contacts with other hams. These are often low-power transmissions (Known as QRP, or 10W or less). I think a big driver of this is the fact that our cities have become so noisy.

https://parksontheair.com/

Side note: if you read Hacker News, enjoy tinkering with electronics, and want to meet/talk to more people like you, I recommend becoming a Ham. The Technician and General exams from the FCC are relatively easy if you have any technical background and it's a great outlet for experimenting.

This has been on my list for a while now, and I've played with radio in various forms (allowed...) for the past few years and have quite the collection of baofang, many sdrs, a dish collecting goes16 images 24/7.. etc.

I am however, for whatever reason, adverse to the social, or seemingly kinda social, aspect of the proctored exams.

Am I just making a mountain out of a molehill?