I put up my first homemade antenna! It works very well, as I have heard many conversations using it. Most of the voices sound pretty clear. I've heard traffic on many frequencies (2M, or 144 - 148 MHz) but I'm mostly listening to a repeater in a nearby town. I've also heard some Morse code, but there haven't been any conversations in it yet. Incidentally, I am just starting to learn Morse code.

I can't wait till I finally get my call sign, so I can speak up and join in!

What resources are you using to learn the code? Have you tried the "Just Learn Morse Code" program?
http://www.justlearnmorsecode.com/

Your "VHF" dipole looks long enough to even do 40m HF.

When you give anyone your ham radio call sign, you have basically told them who you are, and where you live.

I used to have a ham radio vanity plate on my car.  I can now see why that was a BAD idea.

There's a reason post office boxes were invented.  Anyone who puts their actual home address on their application for a --publicly accessible license-- has only the fool in the mirror to blame.

In my experience, the following three topics are discussed, ad nasuem, in order of importance.:

• --Radios;
• --Radios; and finally
• --Radios.…

If you lived in Region 7, your list would read:
1. Health problems
2. Radios
3. Antennas

In the last year approximately, BATFE has been instructing dealers that PO Boxes and PMBs (Private Mail Boxes), may not be used on Forms 4473 or the ID.

BATFE now runs FCC, and/or one needs to execute a Form 4473 and run a NICS to obtain an amateur radio license?  News to me.

Moreover, Form 4473 is not publicly accessible. 

If you lived in Region 7, your list would read:
1. Health problems
2. Radios
3. Antennas

Listening to Ham Radio operators in Region 6 and in Region 7

The topics generally discussed are:
1. Health Problems; animal care; dying dogs; getting a new puppy
2. Earth Weather - humidity, pressure, and temperature - longer time needed for boiling eggs?
3. Solar activity - sun flares, new active regions; blank sun, solar winds, CMEs
4. What's on the plate? Coffee time?
5. Fires, wind, rain, and floods
6. Antennas and Radios - and signal strength
7. Technical things - tubes, computers, car problems, and educational points concerning electronics
8. And finally, briefly touching on politics and the reasons why it is imperative to leave Los Angeles and the State of California as soon as possible

(Sigh)
If you use your POB/PMB on your driver license (and ham license) to protect your PERSEC, you cannot buy a firearm until you change your driver license.… assuming the FFL is BATFE-compliant.

(Sigh) and (Facepalm).  

Again, this has what to do with applying for an amateur radio license?

More important:

1. In applying for an amateur radio license, a driver's license is not required. See, e.g., Form 605.
2. When taking a test for an amateur radio license (whether your first or an upgrade), your mailing address does not have to be the same as that contained on any identification that may have to be produced when taking said test. See, e.g., 47 CFR Part 97 et seq., and more specifically, 47 CFR 97.23.   All that is required is a mailing address, and I know from personal experience that the Boomer VE's do not care if the address on your application does not match the address contained on your ID.
3. As such, anyone who uses their home address when applying for a --publicly accessible-- amateur radio license has no PERSEC awareness, period.

But again, there isn't any connection between an amateur radio license and a Form 4473, so I'm not sure what all of your fuss is about.  It would appear that the point you're trying to make has more to do with BATFE, not FCC, requirements.  That's fine, but again, has nothing to do with obtaining an amateur radio license.  

HOWEVER, if you're truly concerned (and i mean truly) about PERSEC, why would you be filling out a Form 4473 in the first place?  There are several other (legal) avenues one can take in obtaining a firearm which does not require the use of a Form 4473 (and NICS).  

Can’t I just buy a ham radio and start broadcasting?  So what if I don’t file any paperwork, get licenses, etc?  Are they really going to come after me if I’m just playing around?

More to the point, my only interest in ham radio is for underground or post-TEOTWAWKI transmissions, in which case I definitely would not have wanted to show my cards by having been licensed.

You could buy a ham radio (solar panels, batteries, etc. to power it) and put it away in a faraday cage for a rainy day, yes.

But you'd have no experience using it. You'd need to be on the lookout for a ham to bring into your group, to help you with communications. Someone who knows about electronics, antennae, etc.

About the only useless ham knowledge post-TEOTWAWKI is all the stuff about FCC regulations, which bands are available to which license levels, "band plans", and all that. But most of what hams practice, learn, and study is practical to ANY kind of world where ham equipment is to be operated. It's radio art/science in general.

Communication may (or may not) be the same situation as growing your own food -- some people buy $250 worth of seeds and tools and box them up for a "post collapse scenario". But any gardener will tell you: there's more to gardening than throwing a few seeds in the ground and praying! Better to learn how to garden when it's NOT a matter of life-and-death. When a single mistake WON'T wipe your whole line off the face of the earth. Same for medical equipment. Sure, if you don't have a medical person in your household, it's a good idea to at least have a bin with $2000 of medical supplies and equipment, so you can EQUIP that doctor who knocks on your door, starving, post-collapse. But it's even better to know how to use it yourself.

The last several videos I watched on preparedness, etc. all pointed the same direction: they spoke about the high importance of intel, information, communications in a post-grid down scenario. You need to know what's going on outside your neighborhood. Think about it: you could have EVERYTHING ELSE lined up: food, water, medicine, guns, ammo, knowledge, practice, experience, you name it -- but if you don't know what's happening 15+ miles away, you could lose it all. How else do you learn where the gangs are roving? Smoke signals?

There's a reason why the USA dominates the world militarily. One of the reasons: our intelligence satellites and other communications infrastructure.