Comment by akvadrako

On the other hand, getting a license is pretty easy. If you have a US address you can take 2 ten minute exams online for $10 to get General class; that's usable when traveling globally. It's a fixed pool of about 300 questions, so a half day of studying should be enough.

With the license, there are ham repeaters for FM and DMR. My cheap Chinese radio can reach the repeater 15km away.

It also supports APRS, but only for sending beacons. I can't really test it as there aren't repeaters around.