What Use Is An F-call?

What use is an F-call? Firstly I should thank all those f-calls that contributed to the call-back last week. If you know of any f-calls that are not listening to the broadcast, tell them about it and who knows what might happen. When I started this hobby I did what I am beginning to suspect many newcomers to the field did. I asked around what things to do and who to talk to, then I made my first purchases. I've now spent some of my hard-earned money and to-date I'm very happy about what I bought, but along the way I learnt a few things that I think might be helpful. My biggest frustration in going out to get my kit was this phenomenon that seemed to plague me where-ever I went. "Why can I not just buy a standard kit with radio, power-supply and antenna?" All in one box, all from one supplier, all shipped to my door, point and click-style. My limited experience to date tells me that you can in fact do that - it's called a hand-held all-in-one transceiver and it is all that. Of course there are t