First, thanks everyone for the congradulations on my license. Its something I've been looking forward to getting and something I think is a great survival skill.

Second, thanks for the recommendations. I plan on getting a Yaesu VX-7R. It sounds like its a little more difficult to program, thats set off by how rugged it seems to be. I'll be taking it out in the field quite a bit either for recreation or for geology trips, so rugged is a big thing for me.

Hope to be talking to everyone soon.