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 but when I key up nothing happens or sometimes the repeater just doesnt respond at all. Someone at my club meeting mentioned something about CTCSS tones and I think thats my problem but im honestly not totally sure what that even means.

From what I can gather its like a sub-audible tone that you have to send along with your transmission so the repeater knows to open up and let you through? I programmed what I think is the right tone (100.0 Hz) based on the repeaterbook listing but still not sure if its actually working. My radio is a Baofeng UV-5R if that matters. Is there a way to test if the tone is actually transmitting or do I just have to trust the menu setting? Also someone mentioned something called a courtesy tone and I dont even know what that is yet.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, trying to learn as much as I can before I embarrass myself on the air too badly lol

Not a dumb question at all, everybody goes through this. CTCSS (some people call it PL tone, which stands for Private Line, a Motorola trademark that just sort of stuck) is exactly what you described — a continuous sub-audible tone mixed in below your voice that tells the repeater to open up. If the repeater isnt responding to you at all it's very likely the tone is either wrong or not enabled properly on your radio.

On a Baofeng the setting you want is in the menu under something like T-CTCS — thats the transmit CTCSS. Make sure you're setting the transmit tone and not the receive tone (R-CTCS), which is a separate setting that controls whether YOUR radio squelches on incoming signals. Easy to mix those up. Double check that 100.0 Hz matches what repeaterbook says for that specific machine, because sometimes listings are outdated and the repeater changed tones without anyone updating it.

Easiest test is to find a friend with another radio and have them listen while you transmit — if they can hear the tone it means it's working. Or honestly just key up and say your callsign and ask if anyone can hear you, thats totally normal and people are usually pretty helpful.

The courtesy tone is just a little beep the repeater makes after someone stops transmitting to let everyone know the channel is clear to use again. Its good practice to wait for it before you start talking.

yeah i had the exact same issue when i first started, spent like two days thinking my radio was broken before someone told me about the tone. one thing i'll add is that some repeaters around here have gone to requiring a 1750 Hz burst tone to open up instead of CTCSS, which is more of a european thing but a few machines locally still use it. probably not your situation but worth knowing exists.

also on the etiquette side of things — once you do get it working, just remember to pause a second or two after you key up before you start talking. the repeater needs a moment to actually open and if you start right away the first word or two of what you say gets cut off. learned that one the hard way in front of like ten people on a net