Charles,
Attend a meeting, introduce yourself and tell them your interests.
Get a feel for the members and what they are doing. Typically, there
are hams who are involved in various aspects of the hobby. You may be
presently surprised. Start at the top with the Club's President or if
he/she turns out to be non responsive find someone who is.

Just my opinion for a "first step". Of course read up as much as you
can. The jargon, by the way, will come as you get more involved.
Good luck.
73 Murray, K3BEQ

charlesW wrote:

Hello, I am currently a comp sci student who has become interested in
ham radio, mainly from taking physics classes and learning about
electromagentic theory. I find the subject fascinating and would like
to learn more theory and hands on applications. Currently my schedule
doesn't let me take any of the classes which sound interseting like EM
wave theory and antenna theory. I go to a small school and there isn't
a ham radio club here.

From my initial research into ham radio, the subjects which I have the
most interest is mainly satellite communications, but I am also
interested in DX communications, antenna theory and packet radio.

I have found three clubs on the ARRL website within 30 miles of me.
Only one of those lists DX communication and none of them list
satellite or packet radio as one of the groups interests. I feel a
little uneasy simply showing up to one of the meetings with my limited
(read non-existant) knowledge of the subject. I know enough about the
physics and theory behind everything, but pratically 0 about the actual
application. I envision going to one of these meetings (the one
closest to me is held at a diner) and sitting around a table with a
bunch of guys who are talking ham radio jargon and not being able to
follow anything being said. I realize they are probably helpful to
newcomers, but I think they would expect a newcomer to be able to hold
their own, which at the moment I would be unable to do

Is there any (cheap) equipiment or kits that I might be able to find on
ebay or some retail outlet that you could recommend to a beginner which
I could play around with to help me get started before being licensed?

Any books or websites geared towards beginners (possibly with my
interests in mind) that I might find useful? I've found a bunch, but it
would be better if I could get some recommendations from experienced
operators.