To be honest, there isn't a simple and easy-to-understand explanation. "Copying cats and tigers" is not a useful concept; amateur radio also requires some basic theoretical support, but if you can already achieve "copying cats and tigers," that's already quite good. Personally, for most amateur radio enthusiasts who prefer practical application rather than theory, it's better to focus on practice. Otherwise, if you delve too deeply into the principles, you'll essentially be a professional RF engineer, and there's no point in fiddling with 438.500...
In conclusion, being able to understand and operate a handheld antenna effectively is already quite impressive.