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Huge advantages. So much so that multiple government agencies will actively rely on amateur operators to get status reports and communications in and out of disaster zones. There are organizations dedicated to training and indexing operators too, both independent and government run.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_emergency_communications
http://www.arrl.org/amateur-radio-emergency-communication
For personal communications it's not that great of course, but you can become an invaluable asset to your nearby community by having a radio during a disaster.
Typical mobile amateur radio kits can be operated on tens of watts at most, and will effectively run indefinitely from small solar panels or an idling car. And you can reach out quite far just by tossing an aerial wire up in a tree anywhere.
If you're interested in getting into amateur radio I highly recommend it. It's super fun to chase signals and see what parts of the world you can talk to. Definitely worth getting licensed as it's not a terribly expensive hobby to get into either (although the cost ceiling can be.... very high haha).
You don't need a license to listen, only transmit, so if you don't want to committ you can grab a cheap radio and some wire for a poor man's listening station.
I assume you're talking about HAM radio?
A buddy of mine got really into that. From what he's told me, yes getting licensed is pretty cheap and straightforward. But getting a rig can be a bit pricey. With even a fairly basic second-hand rig costing hundreds of dollars or more.
It's something I'm tired with getting into, but I haven't had much time to really dig into it any further. Do you have any insights or links/resources you can share?
Thanks.
Pedant's note: it's ham radio, not HAM.
Depends how loudly you need to say it I guess. Haha.
But seriously, good point. Thanks.