ok so i got my technician license about three weeks ago and ive been trying to get into the local FM repeater but nobody seems to hear me, or maybe they do and just arent responding? hard to tell. anyway i programmed the repeater frequency into my baofeng and i can hear people talking just fine but when i key up nothing happens and no one responds.

my buddy at the club said something about needing a CTCSS tone and i looked it up but now im more confused than before. from what i understand the repeater needs a specific sub-audible tone sent along with my transmission so it knows to open up, but i have no idea what tone this particular repeater uses or how to find out. the repeater directory online lists like three different things and im not sure which one is right. also is it rude to just jump in when people are mid-conversation or should i wait for a break? i dont want to be that guy

yeah CTCSS is definitely what's biting you. basically the repeater has a tone squelch on the input side so it ignores anything that doesnt have the right tone — keeps it from keying up on random interference and stuff. the tone is usually listed in the repeater directory for your area, either on rptr.net or your regional frequency coordinator's site. if three listings show different things honestly your best bet is to just ask someone at the club which one is actually correct, sometimes those databases are out of date by years.

on your baofeng you want to make sure you're setting the transmit tone (sometimes labeled T-CTCS or similar depending on firmware) not the receive tone. the receive tone just filters what you hear, transmit tone is what actually opens the machine. common tones around here are like 100 or 107.2 but really it depends on the specific repeater.

and no its not rude to wait for a break and then just say your callsign, thats totally normal. people do it all the time. just give your call and say youre monitoring or that you're new, most repeater groups are pretty welcoming to new folks checking in.

oh man i had the exact same problem when i first started, spent like two days thinking my radio was broken lol. turned out i had the right frequency but the tone was wrong by like one step. 100hz instead of 100.0 — well actually those are the same thing but you know what i mean, i had some completely wrong value in there from when i was just guessing.

one thing that might help — if you can find anyone from your local club on echolink or even just email the repeater trustee, they'll usually tell you the correct tone right away. repeater trustees love knowing new hams are trying to use their machine, at least in my experience. good luck, youll get it sorted