SDF Amateur Radio Club

I'm just getting into ham (my technician exam is tomorrow night), and I'm looking for ideas on starter kit.

For now, my interest is in making contact with a friend who lives ~10 miles away, as well as other amateurs in the county (there's a repeater ~2 miles away). This friend needs to reapply for his license, but he has a mobile 2m/70cm transceiver from his old call sign. Eventually, we'd like to get into digital communication between our houses.

Even further down the line, I think long distance HF sounds cool, but that looks like a money pit I'm not quite ready to dig just yet.

I don't want to set up any crazy antennas just yet, as partner and I are house hunting. This also means we could end up more like 15 miles from my friend, depending on what we find.

I was wondering if anyone here could suggest beginner's equipment for my goals. I'm ok to spend a bit more on systems that are still useful if my interest in ham expands beyond these initial requirements.