Passed the tech test with only 3 wrong. Was going to try for general but I think I need to study first. They had a raffle for the new techs and I won a Baofeng uv5ra.
welcome to the hobby.
i am a couple towns west of you, you should be able to get into a few repeaters with your HT, including the KQ1L state-wide net. not sure if you have any other radios yet or not.