I recently replaced the battery on my FT-470, which has a telescopic
antenna. Recently, I have been having trouble accessing local repeaters.

Eric....do you have the right tones programmed? This would prevent you from
accessing a repeater. Check to see if the "T" is showing up on the display.
Also, check to see if you're on low power or hi. Also, if the battery is the
lower voltage unit (7,2V), you're outputting only around 2W of power...the 12V
cellpak is needed for 5W.

My repeater shift is set to .6 MHZ on 2 meters and 5 MHZ on 440.

Yup...that is correct for most repeaters, tho you should check. Also, make
sure that your offset is in the right direction (+/- is set right). I had a
-470 for years...good solid HT. One caveat...I did have the internal antenna
connection crack and separate....could "barely" hear a repeater but could not
hit it. Bit of solder and a piece of flex wire & I was back in business.
Worth checking, esp. with the telescopic antenna, which puts more stress on the
connector. I was using an ANLI telescopic when mine failed.

Of course, this may be the rig's way of saying "time to get on HF, so get the
code out of the way!" QRP would be easy from the 2nd floor, if you have a
nearby tree for an end fed wire (my std. hotel setup).

Eric Patterson, Kb7vfr, Beaverton, Or.

Hope this helps!
A