I'm down, but the US is so large, and people like us so few, that it would be really hard unless a large number of people experienced enough motivation to do this. It would most likely be one guy setting these up for his family in smallish towns in the US. Still cool though.
Discussion
They need to make it so cheap you can buy it at Walmart for 5 dollars
Disagree. It would be a pile of shit and would make people even less likely to succeed.
It does also have to be as non-technical as possible for most ordinary users. Something like a T-Echo that you buy and just connect to and use. We're trying to get ham radio operators involved now to set up some home locations that stay on 24/7 as many are discouraged when they power up and find no nodes visible anywhere.
I'm considering getting into ham radio after school. Seems really cool and useful
Yes you should - it is so much more than just talking today. The digital modes and satellite are really interesting to explore. The best for me tho has been gaining all the knowledge about how radio frequencies and modes really work - so much today from Bluetooth, to phones, to Wi-Fi, to remotes, etc are all using radio.