Rx Tones (receive tones) - How are they used?

[WRPD719]

Hey All, I am new to the GMRS world.  I am trying to understand what the purpose of the Rx Tones are that are listed with different repeaters.  In every case that I have put the receive (Rx) tone into my radio I cannot hear the repeater anymore but I can see that my radio is lighting up like it was receiving a signal.  When I take out the Rx tone I can then hear the repeater.

My understanding is that receive tone is to block or screen out incoming signals on the same frequency.  However, it doesn't seem to be working for me.

One thing to note is that I live in Chicago and I believe I can hear multiple repeaters that are on the same frequency a lot of the time.  

So what am I not understanding about Receiver tone from repeaters?  Any help is apprciated.

Cheers!

[wrci350]

If your radio shows receive but you don't hear anything, then the repeater is either transmitting a different tone, or no tone at all.

The purpose of the Rx tone is to keep you from hearing other traffic on that same channel, which could be either a different repeater, or simplex traffic (on the repeater output channel, which is shared with simplex GMRS and FRS users).  But you don't *need* to program in the Rx tone; you will hear the repeater just fine without it (as you have seen).

Does that make sense?

[MichaelLAX]

Hey Scott:

What radio?

Which repeater?

Luckily they have an authentic Portillo’s about 35 miles south of me in Orange County!

[WRPD719]

Thanks for Responses!

Makes sense.  I think maybe I will try to program all Rx Tones with their respective stations to make it clearer which stations I am hearing. 

For Example I can hear both the Chain O Lakes repeater on 625 and the Frankfurt Indiana Repeater on 625 at the same time most days.  Both have different Rx Tones but if I put one or the other tone into the radio I do not hear either repeater anymore.

I have a KG-805g at the moment but I am working on getting a j-pole up and running and maybe even a mobile station.

Love me some portillos!

[MichaelLAX]

That is strange for a HT as well received as the Wouxun KG-805G, that it is not properly applying the receiver tones.

You are getting great reception range between those two repeaters, but maybe it is a challenge to be able to hit them until you get your jPole up and running.

I see some other repeaters listed near you, but some may no longer be active:

 

[WyoJoe]

On 3/2/2022 at 4:49 PM, WRPD719 said:

Hey All, I am new to the GMRS world.  I am trying to understand what the purpose of the Rx Tones are that are listed with different repeaters.  In every case that I have put the receive (Rx) tone into my radio I cannot hear the repeater anymore but I can see that my radio is lighting up like it was receiving a signal.  When I take out the Rx tone I can then hear the repeater.

My understanding is that receive tone is to block or screen out incoming signals on the same frequency.  However, it doesn't seem to be working for me.

One thing to note is that I live in Chicago and I believe I can hear multiple repeaters that are on the same frequency a lot of the time.  

So what am I not understanding about Receiver tone from repeaters?  Any help is apprciated.

Cheers!

When your radio is lighting up, but not putting out any sound, it is likely due to the receive tone doing what it's supposed to do. It is filtering out radio traffic that does not transmit the selected tone. That traffic could be coming from one of the repeaters you are trying to listen to, or it could be coming from some other source. It could be simplex (radio to radio) traffic that is not from a repeater. It could also be from a different repeater than you think you're listening to. If you set a receive tone to match a particular repeater, you will only hear that repeater or other traffic that is using the same tone.

I suspect what you're experiencing is the radio working normally. My suspicion is that what you thought was traffic from the repeater you programmed the radio for, was actually coming from somewhere else.

[WRPD719]

You both are 100% correct I believe. 

I just learned that there is a difference between Normal and Inverted DCS tones!  That was my problem.  I had the Rx tone set to an Inverted DCS when the repeater I am trying to hear is on normal DCS.  As soon as I changed it I was about to hear the repeater with the Rx Tone input.

The other thing I think is confusing is that a lot of these repeaters I should be able to hear directly are linked together at times.   For example I believe I hear both people on the ChainOLakes repeater and the Frankfurt Indiana repeater (both on 625) talking to each other.  One minute someone says they are in southern Wisconsin and the next someone is talking about being in Indiana on a Mobile.  It seems unlikely that those people are talking to each other on the same repeater over 200 mile span on GMRS hear in the flat plains.

Thanks again for the help.