Hello and welcome Tony, my name is Harley Patterson 20 miles northwest of Indianapolis in Lebanon Indiana. I've been a ham for only 12 years and am 57 years old. I have always regretted not becoming liscenced sooner. I was caught up in the CB Radio craze of the 1970's until about 1974 I moved to Short Wave Listening for many years. Hearing the Soviet jammers on their OTR antennas, foreign broadcasts, hams, etc.I could copy Morse Code about 10 wpm in 1975 when everything came to a screeching halt. I got married and she wanted me away from radio. I returned to studying to be a ham in 2003 and Technician in 2004.
Make this a reality, not just a dream. Go here and register to take practice exams:
Practice Amateur Radio Exams by QRZ.COM
Take 2 or 3 tests a day to familiarize yourself with the hobby and don't worry about a vertical antenna, there are MANY stealth antennas to either build or buy. As far as that goes, HOA's can be diverted legally if you hold a current liscence.
I looked at that Grundig, and that current antenna should work well, those frequencies below 30 mhz, elevation is not critical. Granted elevation helps take off angle, but for now continue using it. You might want to spin your Grundig to the 20 meter band, 14.300 mhz USB UPPER SIDEBAND and listen to them:
Maritime Mobile Service Network
You may hear me on there doing a relay. If you have access to a Yeasu 450D, that is a very fine rig, great audio and noise rejection. Your Grundig is capable of 10 through 160 meters. With that antenna length you should hear 10 to 80 meters. When I said meters, I dont mean mhz. To really clairify this ,
frequency allocation chart - Google Search
Start with 2 meters fm from a fixed location (base station) I would skip the handheld and go with a mobile, power supply, feedline, antenna, and liscence for under $500.00. Morse code is no longer required, 35 question test and I think you can miss 9 and still pass. You indicated palm tree, so Im assuming you are near a coast, do you have an old programmable scanner around to plug in your local repeater and maybe simplex frequencies? What city are you near? Do you know any local hams? After registering with QRZ, put your zip code in where you put a call sign to list all the hams in your area to see if you know anyone. Don't let this go by just as a dream, it's the best thing that has happened in my life, and have heard hundreds of hams say the same. There is always knowledgeable help on this forum. Again, WELCOME AND BEST OF LUCK! Harley