@Finkle IRL Ham here... Don't know what your local community is like, but in general, hams are astoundingly friendly (at least about ham stuff 😉 ), and are really excited about getting interested people into the hobby.
They'll introduce you to the technology, help you prepare for the test, explain anything you're interested in. You could start here to find local hams... https://www.arrl.org/find-a-club
@kay_dub, there is a group local to me. It will cost nothing to start studying, but what might it cost to get used equipment? I imagine like any hobby you could easily spend thousands, but what might a starter setup run? No pressure on answering, but thought I would ask.
You can start with a cheap handheld radio (most of us have a Baofeng UV5R as a backup) they're currently under $20 on the big A. It's an adequate radio, it's fine to communicate locally. If needed, you can upgrade the antenna for another $20. A good handheld will run $100-250 new, depending on features.
For my first 15 years as a Ham, I used a handheld as my only radio. Down the line, local hams will almost certainly have gear they don't use that they'd be willing to sell/trade.
@kay_dub, right on! And you can listen without a licence but cannot transmit, is that correct?
@Finkle That is correct. In fact, I got a UV5, and programmed it to not transmit (easy, with free software called Chirp), and gave it to my wife to use as an emergency frequency and ham band scanner.
Even if she accidentally hits the transmit button, nothing happens.
Can't buy a decent dedicated scanner for $20!
@kay_dub @Finkle
/ de KD9LTQ