Fermion
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I know this is not a ham forum but I figure there have to be a few on here.
I just obtained my tech and general license and bought a really expensive 2m/70c handheld by Baofeng ($35 model UV-82).
After contacting my wife (barely) at 3 miles, I ditched the rubber ducky and built us both 2m quarter wave ground plane antennas with four quarter wave radials bent down at 45 degrees. Using these we were able to make simplex contact at 25 miles even with a few mountains and hills between us.
Now I want to try and open a repeater but I have not had much luck. I know we are in the boonies and in a low spot, but I do hear conversation very clearly on a few repeaters (50 miles, 25 miles, and 20 miles away). I programmed them in and put in the correct tone and checked that the offset was correct (and plus or minus). I have not had any luck getting a contact on them...I actually don't even know if the repeater is getting my tone or acknowledging me.
So that is my question...how do you know if you are being heard by a repeater if there is nobody else on that repeater freq? Will it beep at you or something?
Thanks.
I just obtained my tech and general license and bought a really expensive 2m/70c handheld by Baofeng ($35 model UV-82).
After contacting my wife (barely) at 3 miles, I ditched the rubber ducky and built us both 2m quarter wave ground plane antennas with four quarter wave radials bent down at 45 degrees. Using these we were able to make simplex contact at 25 miles even with a few mountains and hills between us.
Now I want to try and open a repeater but I have not had much luck. I know we are in the boonies and in a low spot, but I do hear conversation very clearly on a few repeaters (50 miles, 25 miles, and 20 miles away). I programmed them in and put in the correct tone and checked that the offset was correct (and plus or minus). I have not had any luck getting a contact on them...I actually don't even know if the repeater is getting my tone or acknowledging me.
So that is my question...how do you know if you are being heard by a repeater if there is nobody else on that repeater freq? Will it beep at you or something?
Thanks.