ok so i just got my technician license last month and ive been trying to use the local 2m repeater but nobody ever seems to hear me. i looked up the repeater on repeaterbook and it shows a 100.0 Hz tone but im not totally sure if thats what i need to program into my radio as the transmit tone or the receive tone or both? my HT is a baofeng uv-5r and i think i got it set up right but honestly the menu system on that thing is a nightmare.

also i heard someone on the repeater talking about a linked system and i didnt really know what that meant — like is the repeater connected to other repeaters somehow? and is there any etiquette stuff i should know before i just start calling CQ or whatever on a repeater? dont want to step on anyone or do something embarrassing on my first real qso

hey welcome to the hobby, dont stress too much about this stuff it clicks pretty fast once you actually use it a few times. so for the CTCSS thing — that 100.0 Hz tone on repeaterbook is your transmit tone, meaning your radio needs to send that subaudible tone along with your voice when you key up. that way the repeater knows to open its squelch and retransmit you. the receive tone is a separate thing and most of the time you dont actually need to set one unless you want your radio to stay quiet unless the repeater is also sending a tone back at you. for day to day use on a busy repeater i usually just leave the receive side open so i can hear everything.

on the linked system question — yeah some repeaters are connected to other machines, sometimes through the internet using something like IRLP or Echolink or AllStar, sometimes through RF links. basically your voice can end up being heard on repeaters in other cities or even other states depending on how the system is set up. the operator usually announces it or it might say so on repeaterbook. just something to be aware of because you might get a reply from someone 500 miles away and it can be a little surprising the first time lol

etiquette wise — on a repeater you dont really call CQ, you just say your callsign and say youre listening or monitoring, or just announce yourself and see if anyone comes back. wait for a pause between transmissions before you key up, that little gap is important so the repeater has time to reset. and if theres a net going on just listen until its done before jumping in.

yeah i went through the exact same thing with my uv5r when i first started, that radio will drive you nuts. i think there's a setting called T-CTCS for transmit and R-CTCS for receive, make sure you're putting the 100.0 in the T-CTCS slot not the R one, that tripped me up for like a week before someone pointed it out to me at a club meeting