I've had an amateur radio license since I was 14, and I got it through a collaboration with our local radio club and the boy scouts. I don't use my license enough, but I love having it.

One of my absolute favorite memories growing up was when we did a camping trip during a field day. A field day is basically an annual global contest to see who you can contact and how far you can reach out. We setup a massive portable antenna in the woods, and I stayed up ALL NIGHT on one of our more powerful SSB radios reaching out to people all across the world. Like Ukraine, Denmark, Ireland, Australia, and more (I'm in the US). Young me was so fascinated with talking with those people, that I'm pretty certain it was one of the first times I experienced sonder.

SDR is fun, but no where near as rewarding as using analog.