Well...It means the difference and weight of a 240 ft. piece of wire vs. a 1/2 inch piece of wire.

Jim, these days the ham bands run from VLF Experimental, 160m through laser light. A huge swath of RF real estate. I have an HF digital set on my desk now that takes/repeats calls automatically from all over the world. Plus, I have a digital trunk city radio for SAR/Storm spotting. All that said, give me analog. It requires much less power and weak signals are copyable, vs. digital which might be unreadable.
I've found 14mhz to be an all round backcountry band, that works day and night, requiring the least amount of junk to haul. A VHF/UHF talkie equipped with a yagi hi-gain antenna, from a mountain top will go hundreds of miles. In a valley or surrounded by rock, practically nowhere. That's the fun of the "radio art"....using the tools and knowledge to make contact, no matter where you are, most of the time.
A cell phone these days might go 20 miles to a tower before phase error makes it impossible. Analog phones weren't that way and could go full line of sight.

I seem to remember you did quite a bit of antenna work in the past.