Hitting a repeater with HT?
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| Jun 15th 2016, 19:06 | |
W0SJFTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
Just wanted to confirm the proper way to know you are hitting a repeater with your HT. The first, and most obvious, is to identify yourself and wait for a reply. If no reply you can listen for courtesy tones from the repeater when you lift off the PTT button. If that doesn't work you really have no idea if you're hitting anything at all. Any other hints, tips? I was thinking about doing some 4-wheeling in the local area with no cell service and seeing if I could contact local repeaters. Pretty sure all my settings are correct and I've used repeaters before. |
| Jun 16th 2016, 01:34 | |
WA0CBWTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
The things you mentioned will let you know you brought up the repeater but they don't indicate that your signal is strong enough to be understood. A very weak signal can bring up the repeater but to be understood your signal needs to be about 12db or greater than the noise . There isn't any real way to know if your signal is noisy or unreadable. You can ask for signal reports or listen to other users and their locations to get a feeling for the coverage area of the repeater. Also remember that handhelds are low power and their antennas are very inefficient so you will need to be close to the repeater or line of sight to be readable. Sometimes moving a foot or two can mean the difference of being unreadable or full quieting. BB |
| Jun 16th 2016, 04:30 | |
W0SJFTotal Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0 |
Thank you for the reply and I understand what you are saying. I live in a remote area. There seem to be repeaters all around me but with little or no activity. |
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