The 9CAP is a good radio and sure you can use it if your club allows 72 Mhz gear. I would give the batteries a good test or better yet replace them with new and also check out to make sure none of the pots have gotten noisy. Do some good range checks and get back to flying!
I went with Spektrum 2.4 Ghz gear just a few months back and am very happy with how they are working out. I'll never order a Futaba after trying to get their customer support to send me some replacement parts. When I tried to get them to drop them in an envelope and reduce the international charges the lady on the phone got very rude with me. No reason for that so Futaba lost this customer.