Oh, about this long, but no longer...
Sounds like a good goal, and getting your Amateur Radio license is a good start (see my footer below).
From personal experience, a HAM operator can teach you a lot more than radio electronics. My HAM mentor taught me lots of good building practices and use of tools & test equipment.
What frequency will your transmitter use?
TBH, that's kind of a strange follow-up post. If not for you, who are we making these suggestions for?
You need a copy of the ARRL Handbook for Radio Amateurs.
Oh, so it was a typo. Got it.
The first radio-type thing I built was a small radio receiver kit. I don't remember if it was for the AM or FM band, but it was fun and useful to build. I was still very new at soldering, so my dad bought me a simple Weller soldering iron and helped me learn how to use it. The kits were through-hole back then (and the starter kits probably are still through-hole to make them easy to build).
So far so good and no one will come knocking on your door and arrest you (.. .. .. .yet) . If you have a dream of communicating 'over the ether' then you need to be legal. It is all too easy to generate signals which can interfere with existing services and there are strict rules. If you want to get into radio, a Morse code beeper could be fun and it can all be done at 'audio' frequencies. Before you contemplate making an actual radio transmitter, you should think in terms of making a receiver. After all, you can always test a receiver using off-air signals but what a home made transmitter is producing is a mystery if you cannot receive it.
