In rec.radio.scanner mad amoeba wrote:
(all of it snipped)

Sorry, if this has been mentioned (I can't read all 60 replies) but ..

While the radio in question can recieve shortwave, it can't transmit
there (and even if you could modify it to .. it would still only be FM and
low powered)

Without "repeaters" a hand held ham radio is very, very limited in range.

There are other possibilites .. such as the Yaesu 817, but you'd need a
higher class of ham licence and (realistically) a bigger, better antenna
(and a lot of luck) for HF (High Frequency .. aka 'shortwave')
communications.

Richard in Boston, MA, USA