ok so i just passed my technician exam last month and ive been trying to get on the local 2m repeater. i can hear people talking on it just fine but when i try to transmit nobody seems to hear me or respond. did some googling and i think it might be a CTCSS thing? the repeater directory listing shows a 100.0 Hz tone but i honestly dont know where to go in my radio to set that up. im using a baofeng uv-5r which i know everyone has opinions about but its what i started with.

also i heard someone say you should announce yourself before just jumping in on a conversation, is that actually a thing people do or was that old fashioned advice. i dont want to be rude but also dont want to just sit there forever waiting for a gap that never comes.

yeah the CTCSS thing is almost certainly your issue. on the uv-5r you need to go into the menu and find the T-CTCS option — thats the transmit tone. set it to 100.0 and you should open the repeater just fine. the R-CTCS is for your radio to only receive signals that have that tone, which is useful sometimes but not what you need right now.

as for jumping into a QSO already in progress, yeah you generally want to wait for a break between transmissions and then just say your callsign. most folks are pretty welcoming especially if they know youre new. some guys on nets will be a bit more formal about it but casual ragchews on a repeater are usually pretty relaxed. just key up during a pause and say your call and that you're listening, someone will usually acknowledge you.

went through the exact same thing when i first got started haha. the baofeng menu is kind of a nightmare to navigate honestly but once you find the tone settings it makes sense. one thing i'd add is double check the repeater offset too — most 2m repeaters are plus or minus 600 kHz and if thats off you might be transmitting on the wrong frequency entirely without realizing it. the repeater directory should list the input and output so you can verify. good luck, repeaters are a lot of fun once you get everything dialed in.