ok so i just got my technician license about three weeks ago and i've been trying to get on the local 2m repeater. i programmed it in from the repeater directory and i can hear people talking on it just fine but when i key up nobody responds and i dont think i'm actually getting into the repeater. my radio shows it's transmitting so i'm not sure what's going on.

someone at the club meeting mentioned something about a CTCSS tone but i honestly didnt fully understand what they were saying. does every repeater require one of these? and how do i know which one to use? i have a baofeng uv-5r if that matters. i know people have opinions about those but its what i have right now and i'm just trying to get it working.

also kind of a separate question — when i do finally get on there, is there like a standard way to let people know you're listening or do you just jump in when someone's talking? i dont want to be that guy who does something wrong on his first time actually transmitting. any help appreciated

welcome to the hobby, don't stress too much about the baofeng thing, plenty of people started on one and they work fine once they're set up right.

so the CTCSS thing — basically most repeaters require you to transmit a specific sub-audible tone along with your voice so the repeater knows to open up. if you're not sending the right tone (or any tone at all) the repeater just ignores you even though you're technically transmitting on the right frequency. it's not hearing you at all from its perspective.

the tone you need should be listed in whatever directory you pulled the repeater info from, usually shown as something like 88.5 or 100.0 or 127.3 Hz next to the frequency. on the uv-5r you have to go into the menu and set what they call the T-CTCS setting — that's your transmit tone. just match it to whatever the listing shows and you should be good. the R-CTCS you can leave off unless you want to squelch out other stuff.

as for jumping in — when there's a pause between two people talking you can just say your callsign. like literally just your callsign and nothing else, that's the signal that you want to join in or that you're monitoring. people will usually respond and welcome you. some repeaters also have a morning or evening net you could check in on which is a nice low pressure way to get started.

yeah what he said about the tone is right. i went through the exact same thing when i started and felt like an idiot once i figured out it was just one menu setting i'd missed. the repeater directory at repeaterbook.com is usually pretty up to date for finding the tone info if the one you used didn't have it.

one more thing on etiquette — try not to kerchunk the repeater, meaning don't key up and unkey without identifying. some repeater trustees get annoyed by that and honestly it's just good practice to always give your call. and if two people are already in a QSO and you just want to listen, you don't have to do anything at all, just monitor. only break in if it's urgent or there's a natural pause and they invite it.