N4RNW Is Back On The Air

After renewing my amateur radio license and buying a new radio, I am back on the local 2-meter and 440 repeaters here in Fort Myers. When I was last on the air, it was in the late 90's with a Kenwood HT. I took out the radio recently to attempt to use it, but found that the internal clock battery that enables the radio to retain all settings had to be replaced. It looks like the repair charge to replace that battery wouldn't be worth it (the battery was soldered in by the manufacturer), so a new radio was soon on its way. It's a Yaesu VX-7R Silver - cute little thing that's no bigger than a deck of cards (see pic below for the black version). Besides transmitting on 2M, 220, 440 and 6M, it has extended receive for everything from the AM and FM broadcast bands through aircraft, amateur radio bands, to all the way up to 999 MHz. It's fun to listen to the aircraft bands for planes arriving and departing from RSW and Page Field.