WRYK451

Ahhh! Thank you so much! It finally clicked in my head, or was that the repeater sound? With your and others help I can hit two different repeaters in my area this morning! I guess I was over complicating things instead using the available frequencies! Thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate it. One more tool in the tool belt now.
And I really enjoy Notarubicon’s videos as well, I know he doesn’t poke fun at newbies and that’s what I like about him, he wants people to be able to enjoy the hobby.

I’m a new member and just recently got my GMRS license.  I understand how repeaters work but my questions are:
1. If the repeater says OPEN SYSTEM do you need permission to use it? I see a tab that says request access even though both the input and output tones are shown.
2. How far can a GMRS 5W HT radio go to hit a repeater?
3. Just to be sure, I would need to input both tones to be able to hear and receive communication?
 
Thanks in advance for your help!

Welcome!
#1: No.. If they publish the tones, that means they want everyone to see them
#2: "It depends".. you can expect anywhere from 1/2 mile to 80 miles
#3: You only need the TX/Encode tone (the one you transmit) to use the repeater. The RX/Decode only makes it so you only hear traffic from the repeater and not kids down the street talking on simplex, etc.