I think you're missing the point?, talking to like minded people all other the place is what it's all about - and when I was younger we never had a phone.
I was only ever a class B licence holder, so only had fairly short range, but even with 1W at 145MHz I could get 60 or 70 miles. I have used friends shortwave gear, on their licence (as permitted), but never had any great desire for shortwave transmitting - although I have used, and built, various shortwave radio's (and still have a valve Eddystone one here).
But radio ham isn't about quality, it's about communication - and quality travels far less than poor 'quality'. CW (morse) is the best, and goes further than anything else, SSB is next best, giving low quality audio that travels well - after that comes AM, better quality than SSB, but poorer range. Last comes NBFM, best quality of all (but still only voice quality), and the lowest range of all.