I guess you do what you can.  I personally found echolink to be ok.  I much rather hf though.  Not really sure why.  I tried vhf a little but rather the prospect of speaking to people far away.  I'm not having much luck.  I am still waiting for a tower to be put up and a ham shack to be finished.  I have a vertical but no radials.  I have spoken to Washington state, California,  texas, Alabama, and a few other states.  No islands or over seas contacts.  I don't get to spend nearly as much time on the radio as I would like.  There is work, family, and other interests that take up time.  I also find that where I am there isn't much on the bands after dark.  Some action on 80 meters but that's mostly old timers bitching about the new comers and how it's not fare that they had to learn code and now you don't.  They also complain about having to build radios and we don't.  I try to stay away from that because it isn't something I can control.  All in all I enjoy the hobby