I was just recently introduced to Echolink. I haven't signed up yet. It looks kinda cool, but the allure of HF DXing with my old boat anchor radio and home made antenna is what really draws me to ham radio. I can't imagine ham radio without static crashed, having the band drop out right as the guy you've been listening to for 10 minutes gives his call and location, that awesome earsplitting howl you get when you tune over an AM boardcast station on 40 meters, that weird random QRM you find along the dial, all that good stuff