ok so i just got my technician license about three weeks ago and ive been trying to get on the local 2m repeater but nobody ever seems to hear me. i can hear other people talking just fine, comes in clear, but when i key up nobody responds and i feel like im just transmitting into the void.

someone at the club meeting mentioned i might need to program a CTCSS tone into my radio but honestly i dont fully understand what that even is. my HT is a baofeng uv-5r and i looked up the repeater on repeaterbook and it says the tone is 100.0 but i have no idea where to put that in the radio. like is that the transmit tone or receive tone or both? i set something in the menu but still not sure if i did it right.

also separate question kind of — when i do get on there, is there like a proper way to join a conversation thats already going? i dont want to step on anyone or be rude about it. the repeater seems pretty active in the evenings.

The CTCSS thing trips up a lot of new folks so dont feel bad about it. What you want is to set the transmit tone (sometimes labeled T-CTCSS or just TX tone on the Baofeng) to 100.0 Hz. You generally dont need to set a receive tone unless you specifically want your radio to squelch out everything that doesnt come in with that tone — most people just leave the RX tone off and let the radio open up for any signal.

On the Baofeng the menu item you're looking for is probably item 13 (T-DCS/CTCSS) if i remember right, been a while since i messed with one of those. Make sure you save the channel after you change it or it wont stick.

As for joining a conversation, just wait for a pause between exchanges and say your callsign. Something like just keying up and saying your call is totally normal. Most regulars on a good repeater will welcome a new voice, especially if you mention you just got licensed. Dont overthink it.

yeah i went through the exact same thing when i first got my baofeng lol. the menu on that thing is a nightmare. one thing i'll add is that some repeaters are also linked to other repeaters or systems like IRLP or Echolink and sometimes the linking stuff can make it feel weird when you first key up because theres like a slight delay before the system connects. so even if your tone is right there might be a second or two before anyone on the other end hears you come through. i was so confused by that for weeks thinking i was broken.

anyway once you get it sorted out its pretty fun. the evening roundtables on our local machine have some real characters on them, good way to actually meet people in the hobby.