ok so i just got my technician license about three weeks ago and ive been listening to a local 2m repeater for a while now trying to figure out how it all works. i understand the basic concept of transmit and receive offset but the CTCSS thing is throwing me off a bit. like i programmed what i thought was the right tone into my baofeng (147.195 with a 100hz tone) but when i key up i dont hear myself come through the repeater. someone told me maybe the tone is wrong but i cant find a better source than the repeater directory i was already using.

also just a general question — is there like a proper way to join a conversation thats already going? i dont want to be rude about it. i heard someone just say their callsign between transmissions the other day and i think that might be how you do it but wasnt totally sure. any help appreciated, been lurking here for a while

welcome to the hobby, dont stress too much about the CTCSS stuff, it clicks pretty fast once you get it sorted. so basically the tone in the repeater directory is usually right but sometimes those listings are outdated — your best bet is to check if the club or group that runs that repeater has a website, they usually list the correct PL tone there. also double check that your radio is actually set to encode the tone on transmit, not just decode it on receive. the baofeng menus can be a little confusing about that, its easy to set one and not the other.

as for joining a conversation — yeah what you saw was the right move. just wait for a pause between transmissions and say your callsign, something like just "KD9XYZ" and thats usually enough for the folks in the QSO to acknowledge you and let you in. most people on local repeaters are pretty welcoming especially if you mention youre new. dont overthink it, honestly the first time you just key up and say something is the hardest part and then it gets way easier after that.

yeah the baofeng CTCSS setup tripped me up too when i first started. one thing worth checking — some repeaters use DCS codes instead of CTCSS and those are different, if the directory lists something like D023N or whatever thats a digital code not an analog tone and you gotta set it differently in the radio. probably not your issue but worth ruling out.

the joining a conversation thing, id just add that if its a net or something structured you usually wait til the net control asks for check-ins or additional traffic. but just casual ragchewing yeah just toss your call in during a pause, most guys are happy to have someone new jump in