There are times when I think of FTA satellite watching as the shortwave listening (SWL) of the 21st Century. While in some ways
everything on satellite is DX, as you surmised you can sometimes push the envelope a little. If you're in the right location, you can catch signals on the edges of a footprint aimed at another part of the globe (say, South America).
Hey, glen4cindy, you can still get your ham ticket! The Technician class exam requires no Morse code and they've just revised the question pool to make it even easier (some would say "dumbed it down", but I don't want to get into that kind of discussion). General aviation and ham radio go great together; if you can pass an FAA exam, you can ace an FCC test.
Something to think about...
Bob
K5IQ