Major bump to that. I'm going to look into this myself.
I need to clarify more. You will need to get a General class license in order to use the HF (shortwave) bands, which is necessary for long distance communications. The General class license is the mid-level license and requires that you be able to copy morse code at 5 words per minute (pretty easy to learn with a few weeks of practice). Besides, using morse code is one of the most efficient modes of radio communications. Please check out the American Radio Relay League for more info on becoming a ham.