Someone asked earlier if you need a huge aerial for LF work. Whilst bigger (especially HIGHER) is beneficial, many amateur operators transmit on quite modest set ups. For reception my aerial is inside a piece of 8 inch long, 1.5 OD plastic waste water pipe with a cap on each end. It's an active (amplified) antenna and is all but invisible.
The transmit aerial is also my HF one. A 565 foot diameter horizontal quad loop of wire suspended from 3 small trees at a height of about 30 feet. It's fed by twin ladder line feeder, strapped together at the bottom for LF, and it acts as the vertical section. the loop then acts as a capacitive "top hat" for it. I can get into Iceland and Russia with it. Given the time and inclination to get it higher (one corner is tied to the apex of my bungalow, limiting that corner's height to about 24 feet), I am sure I could get into the USA and Canada. That's the plan for 2016 anyway, but it was also the plan for this year... There's a drawing of it superimposed on a Google map at this link
http://www.chriswilson.tv/antennas.jpg
You can, and many do, get away with something in a FAR smaller space. The main concern is the high voltages on the antenna, which, being electrically very very short for LF, can get up into the 35 thousand volts plus and coronas can be seen. in fact when transmitting I can walk all around the front garden with a full size eight foot fluorescent tube in my hand and it lights as if connected to the mains, which causes some alarm to anyone seeing it! Even holders of the basic licence can transmit on LF, and you could, legally, have a 1 kilowatt transmitter and unless you had some monster aerial, still be within the maximum 1 Watt ERP power limit. So foundation licence holders can still have some very dangerous bits of gear should they so wish
Whilst my wife and many friends think the hobby is akin to train spotting or being a member of the Park Bench Appreciation Society, it is actually technically interesting and one gets to talk to fascinating people worldwide from Royalty to labourers. The fact she bought me a book called "Dull Men of Great Britain" for Christmas perhaps speaks volumes of her level of interest. A 60 foot mast in the back garden was nearly one step too far, little does she know what's planned for the back field....
If anyone is mildly interested giving it a go need not cost much at all these days, but the most pleasure is in building all your own equipment, or at least it is for me. It's a change from working on cars all day.
2m FM is a graveyard, just the same old duffers chatting about what medication they are taking.
