Martin,

Ben's suggestion of ARRL (American Radio Relay League) is good, but not specific.

May I suggest you contact Eric Olena (wb3fpl@arrl.org) the ARRL Section Manager for Eastern Pennsylvania. He is very likely to have the names of local people who can answer your questions on speed dial.

According to your "New unpaid job" post a few weeks ago, you have the "pleasure" of being in emergency management for your area. I think the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) Emergency Coordinator for your area would be delighted make contact. I suspect you'd both have something to offer the other.

If you want to do research on the web, I suggest the eHAM web site. They have a number of discussion forums that cover the gamut of amateur radio. I tend to do a fair amount of surfing there.

While there have been "advances" in equipment, that doesn't mean your gear is obsolete. In the 'analog' arena, the 'old' gear talks to the 'new' gear just fine.

Dennis