Hey there.

I got my Technician ticket the summer after I graduated from high
school, bought a little 2M handie-talkie and had a bit of fun with it,
but for any number of reasons, left the hobby behind shortly
thereafter. Now, I'm getting notices about my 10 year high school
reunion and I'm realizing that it's time to renew my ticket.

Last year when I realized that renewal time was around the corner, I
figured I'd start getting ready to upgrade to the General License, and
started learning the code. Once I'd gotten my sending down to a
pretty good clip, though my receiving still wasn't near to 5wpm, they
took that requirement away, and now I'm back to having to study for
the exam...

So, here's the point of my post: I'm trying to come back to the hobby
after a long absence. I have a limited (read hardly any) budget, and
an older handie-talkie. I think I'll need more than just local repeater
rag-chewing to get me into it the hobby all the way. Anybody have any
suggestions?

Also appreciated would be suggestions on beefing up my technical
knowledge. I'm afraid I'm probably not even close to having myself up
to the level I was at when I took my Technician test... So, I
probably have to start from close to a clean slate.

Thanks,
Paul
KC8IGJ