There are some DIY QRP kits out there for pretty cheap.

hand heald (ht)'s start at 15-100$ us and one that i carry is 60-75$
at radio shop 409
i love dealing with them butt the 10-14 day shipping Taiwan to usa kills me
ken kb9yku

Nacho has a very good link there, and they even have the test questions and answers on there. The test is only about $15 and the base level (technician) is very easy. The license is free. As far as the equipment goes, it can be fairly inexpensive (about $100 for a basic 2m radio) to very expensive (over $1000 for a high frequency radio without the antenna and other peripherals). There are currently three levels that you can become a ham at: Technician, General, and Amateur Extra. I am a general class ham, I took both the Technician and General tests in one sitting (you have to take the tests in order and pass one before you can do the next). There's an excellent resource in the Dummies series, Ham Radio for Dummies, by Ward Silver N0AX. Until next time 73 and good luck.

HAM radio encompasses an awful lot. Usually (I think) it works the other way around; you find some piece of equipment that you want to use (2m two-way radios are common - sorta professional grade walkie-talkies), and then end up getting the ham license because you need it to use that particular radio. Or perhaps because you want to build a particular type of transmitting device, and are supposed to have the Ham license to do so legally.

Nahco's link is pretty comprehensive, but here is a starter link for you...

. ARRL

can this help you ?

http://www.dmoz.org/Recreation/Radio/Amateur/Homebrew/