katdeskinner Posted January 30 Posted January 30 (edited) Is it considered rude to inquire on an open repeater to get a range check on your equipment? Is it refrained upon? Edited January 30 by katdeskinner Misspelled words Quote
Bogieboy01 Posted January 30 Posted January 30 Radio check for clarity of your transmission and ability to hit the repeater is fine, but range check, not so much in my opinion. Reason being (in my opinion) a range check on a repeater is only going to tell you how far the repeater can get out, not your radio. AdmiralCochrane 1 Quote
katdeskinner Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 Correct me a if im wrong ,but if my radio is hitting the repeater and I know where the repeater is, doesn’t that tell me how far my radio is transmitting? Or that is not necessarily a correct indication? SteveShannon 1 Quote
katdeskinner Posted January 30 Author Posted January 30 Oh bummer I should’ve asked a question different. I’m on a handheld and I wanted to check the range from my handheld. I’ll reread my question and I definitely screwed that up. My apologies. Quote
WSIF574 Posted January 30 Posted January 30 8 minutes ago, katdeskinner said: Oh bummer I should’ve asked a question different. I’m on a handheld and I wanted to check the range from my handheld. I’ll reread my question and I definitely screwed that up. My apologies. It would not be rude if you wait for it to be quiet on the repeater and just ID and state what you are doing and range from repeater. It’s good info for anyone listening don’t just key up and listen for the squelch AdmiralCochrane, WRHS218 and WRUU653 3 Quote
RoadApple Posted January 30 Posted January 30 16 minutes ago, katdeskinner said: Correct me a if im wrong ,but if my radio is hitting the repeater and I know where the repeater is, doesn’t that tell me how far my radio is transmitting? Or that is not necessarily a correct indication? You are correct. If you know you are activating the repeater, that tells you that your transmission is being received at least to that point (it may be travelling further), but it certainly does not tell you if the quality of your transmission is acceptable for normal communications. It's best to make a contact with someone and get some real live feedback on your signal quality and clarity and not just rely upon "hitting the repeater". AdmiralCochrane and WRUU653 2 Quote
Bogieboy01 Posted January 30 Posted January 30 10 minutes ago, katdeskinner said: Correct me a if im wrong ,but if my radio is hitting the repeater and I know where the repeater is, doesn’t that tell me how far my radio is transmitting? Or that is not necessarily a correct indication? That depends on a lot of factors, as we know with radio, line of sight is huge with any uhf transmissions. If you have line of sight to a repeater on a mountain top 60 mi away, you have a good chance of hitting it, vs a simplex (person to person) transmission thru a mile of densely wooded terrain, theres a good chance you may not be able to make that. Quote
WRTC928 Posted January 31 Posted January 31 I typically ask for a signal check and when someone responds, I tell them where I am. As others have said, what I really want to know is how far away I can be understood clearly. Nobody has ever scolded me for it; in fact, apparently most people are as interested in knowing the range/location as I am. Just wait until the repeater is idle. Quote
SteveShannon Posted January 31 Posted January 31 23 hours ago, katdeskinner said: Correct me a if im wrong ,but if my radio is hitting the repeater and I know where the repeater is, doesn’t that tell me how far my radio is transmitting? Or that is not necessarily a correct indication? 22 hours ago, katdeskinner said: Oh bummer I should’ve asked a question different. I’m on a handheld and I wanted to check the range from my handheld. I’ll reread my question and I definitely screwed that up. My apologies. You did nothing wrong. As others have said, wait until there’s no traffic to avoid interruptions, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with trying to see how far away you can reach the repeater. Extending your range is literally what the repeater is for! GreggInFL and WRUU653 2 Quote
tcp2525 Posted January 31 Posted January 31 On 1/30/2026 at 4:31 PM, katdeskinner said: Correct me a if im wrong ,but if my radio is hitting the repeater and I know where the repeater is, doesn’t that tell me how far my radio is transmitting? Or that is not necessarily a correct indication? Unfortunately, that only tells you how well the repeater and its high gain antenna is performing, not your radio. I can hit a repeater 30 miles away on a handheld transmitting 1 watt, but can't hit a base station 3 miles away with 5 watts due to the other station's installation and obstacles in the path. Best way to test your distance is to get one of your friends to drive to different locations while you are talking to him and make notes on a map. This way you now have consistency with your station and the other person's station. This will yield a better data set of how well your radio is working. You can always ask someone on the repeater to help you with this. Sometimes you can get lucky. WSHT233 1 Quote
GreggInFL Posted February 1 Posted February 1 19 hours ago, tcp2525 said: Unfortunately, that only tells you how well the repeater and its high gain antenna is performing, not your radio....Best way to test your distance is to get one of your friends to drive to different locations while you are talking to him and make notes on a map. This. I can hit a local repeater that's about 35 miles away through moderate foliage with a 5W HT not because my radio is great, but because the repeater has a world-class antenna 400' AGL in flat terrain. If I get above tree level I can hit it from ~50 miles with an $18 CCR. Quote
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