My first recommendation for returning hams is ARRL:

http://www.arrl.org/

http://www.hello-radio.org/

Where you can start to get a feel for what is current and recent.

As for where to start again. Well, 2 meter is always a good break in point. You keep it local, keep it live, and you already have most all you need to get going. 2 meter voice is still in good use. In the meantime, you can research packet and winlink and such and get yourself up to speed on what is being done and what equipment is being used.

I've always been an HF geek, and would like to get back into code keying again. That's where all the old rag-chewers hang out at 30-45 wpm. You are in thin air with that crowd, but it is a good place to be.

A good compromise is the 28 Mhz/10 meter crowd. You can keep it local or pump it OTH, so you get the best of both worlds.

I don't mess much with the exotics anymore. After playing around with telemetry and microwave and such for a living, it's fun but not as much as just jabbering. I suppose I wouldn't mind doing some spread spectrum stuff again. It's always fun to be able to communicate without the feds being able to eavesdrop.

That VX 5 is a sweet little unit. Run it into a tri-band mast and at that AGL you should have pretty darned good coverage. Is that a TNC or an SMA female as the antenna jack? I always preferred TNC. I would recommend nothing less than RG-214 for antenna cable for 5/2 Meter ops, and LM 400 flex if you can afford it for the 440 Mhz ops. N connectors seem to be the rage these days, but I remember when everything was terminated with PL-259s, and BNCs at the bench.