I got on the air! :D Woo hoo!
My local club had their lunchtime net just now, and I gathered up all my courage and actually SPOKE ON THE AIR, which I haven’t done in years, except for a brief moment a few months ago when a nice person helped me test the repeater. It felt good to say hello to the community.
AND, my new dual band Signal Stick worked great, so that’s good to know. I’m still getting a lot of static though. Asking for a desktop transceiver and a decent antenna for Christmas. :)