Ham radio repeaters

I've had success making local contacts on 2m and 70cm. The ARRL repeater directory is difficult to use if you're unfamiliar with the area. So I have ARRL's MobilePlus for GPS on my Garmin Nuvi and RepeaterBook on my smart phone. They give me no problem in finding repeaters that are nearby. Plus they help me find Skywarn repeaters during bad weather. It helps in understanding the geography from NOAA weather channel alerts.

I get more contacts from trucker hams than RVers on the road.

I went from home to Florida and back. Ran into numerous repeaters that were IRLP linked, even talked to a gentlemen in Germany early one morning. Can provide some time fillers while driving a long distance.

If it is a hand held I suspect it depends where you are. In very rural areas where repeaters are not as numerous may need more than 5 watts. 50 watts will usually work well. When you say dusted off I suspect, like me, have been in and out of amateur radio over the years. I find it enjoyable in an RV. 73ss

It's been a long time so I am pretty rusty.

FT7900 2M/70cm dual band.

I have several radios lying about here.. Just used an ICOM 2-AT (NOT a 02-AT) to check into a local 2 meter net,,, I also have a 02-1t, it is on a different repeater but has a faulty receive audio section.. I will get to it later.. A Kenwood TM-721 (I think) on same repeater as the 02 and a TS-2000 same as the 2-at (I was able to hear myself without feedback).

IN the car is a Wilson WE-800, Fully synthisized, one of the very first hand held synthetics.. I believe I got it in 1978, in fact I'm sure of it, 3rd production run (never buy anything till revision 3).

Need to be more specific on the radio and you will get tons of answers.
6, 2, 220, 440, combo, low band....