so ive been licensed for about 3 months now (technician) and i finally got my HT programmed for the local 2m repeater. i can hear people just fine but when i try to transmit nobody seems to hear me, or at least nobody responds. did a radio check a couple times and crickets.

someone at the club meeting mentioned something about CTCSS tones and that i probably dont have the right one set. i looked it up and i think i understand what it does — its like a subaudible tone that opens the repeater right? — but i have no idea how to find out what tone this particular machine uses. the repeater is listed on repeaterbook but there are like 4 different entries for my area and im not sure which one is actually active.

also a separate thing, is there any kind of etiquette i should know before jumping on a busy repeater? i dont want to step on anyone or do something embarrassing. i searched around but most of what i found was pretty old and im not sure if it still applies.

yeah the CTCSS thing trips up a lot of new hams, dont feel bad. basically the repeater wont respond to your signal unless you send the correct tone — its there to keep the machine from keying up on interference and stuff. repeaterbook should list the tone right on the page, usually shows up as something like 100.0 Hz or 127.3 Hz in the tone access field. if its blank or says carrier squelch then you might not need one at all, just try transmitting without a tone first.

as for which entry is active — honestly just try each one. key up briefly and say something like your callsign and asking for a radio check. if you get the courtesy beep after you unkey, youre on the right machine. most repeaters have a distinctive beep or tail when someone lets go of the PTT.

etiquette wise the main things are just listen before you transmit, leave a pause between your transmission and your response so others can break in, and when you first get on an ongoing conversation just wait for a break and say your call. nobody expects perfection from a new ham, most folks are pretty welcoming if you just make the effort.

oh man i had the exact same problem when i started out lol. mine turned out i had the tone set but i had it on the wrong setting — my radio had like a T-CTCSS option and a TSQ option and i picked the wrong one. TSQ means youre also filtering incoming signals by tone which is fine sometimes but wasnt what i needed. just make sure your radio is set to transmit the tone, not just receive filtered by it.

also dont stress too much about etiquette, honestly just being aware of it means youre already ahead of a lot of people. the worst thing you can do is just key up and talk over someone mid-sentence, but even then people will usually just say hey someone was already on or whatever. just listen for a few minutes before jumping in and youll be fine.