I'm also new into this, but talked with some people "in the know" -- the K9IU DMR repeater is not in operation, and seems unlikely it will be. For DMR you definitely need a hotspot. There are several analog repeaters in the area, on VHF and UHF, at least 1 (a linked system) is fairly active, while the others seem to be primarily scheduled nets (but still friendly people, just haven't found people monitoring them outside of the nets). If you want to get to know some of the area hams, I'd suggest going to the W9WIN linked repeater system and tossing out your call sign. Several DMR people on there and happy to help newbies.