Can't hear repeater?

[rmanlapig]

Hey everyone, still sorta new here to GMRS.

Went to a local repeater and attempted to access it after being granted permission.

It looks like I'm able to hit the repeater because visually I see an incoming transmission signal on my radio afterwards. BUT, I don't hear anything at all. Yes, volume was up, even maxed out.

Input/Output tones were listed and my handheld both set at 141.3.

What am I doing wrong?

[Borage257]

33 minutes ago, rmanlapig said:

Hey everyone, still sorta new here to GMRS.

Went to a local repeater and attempted to access it after being granted permission.

It looks like I'm able to hit the repeater because visually I see an incoming transmission signal on my radio afterwards. BUT, I don't hear anything at all. Yes, volume was up, even maxed out.

Input/Output tones were listed and my handheld both set at 141.3.

What am I doing wrong?

Try removing the tone on the R-CTCS.

[wrci350]

It's quite possible that you aren't doing anything wrong.  What were you expecting to hear?  Some repeaters will ID when keyed up (if they haven't done so recently) and some will have an audible squelch tail, but hearing nothing is not unusual.

Did you ID with your call sign and ask for a signal report?  Have you left your radio on and monitoring that repeater to see if you hear anyone else?

[rmanlapig]

Borage257, Will try removing r-ctcs. Read in some other places that may be the issue.

wrci350, was expecting to hear the repeater squelch tail at the least. Thing is I saw receiving activity on my handheld as if it was either a response or a squelch tail but was not hearing anything. 

Yes, I did ID with my call sign. I was only in the area for a short time so didn't have time to monitor. 

Will try again later on and report back.

[Borage257]

pulling the squelch tone off your receive will let you hear any transmission on that frequency.

[rmanlapig]

41 minutes ago, Borage257 said:

pulling the squelch tone off your receive will let you hear any transmission on that frequency.

Right, understood. But if I wasn't able to hear anything before it's possible the repeater didn't set a tone on their transmission end?

[wrci350]

1 hour ago, rmanlapig said:

Right, understood. But if I wasn't able to hear anything before it's possible the repeater didn't set a tone on their transmission end?

Most GMRS repeaters seem to use both transmit and receive squelch tones, but that is certainly a possibility so taking the receive tone off would be a reasonable testing step.

[rmanlapig]

Just got back and it turns out that removing the r-ctcs did the trick. I was able to hear the repeater tail squelch loud and clear. No one was on unfortunately so I was talking to myself while testing out distances.

[DONE]

One thing to know with CTCSS and CERTAIN manufactures of radios.  Motorola specifically has something called reverse burst.  It inverts or changes the output PL or DPL of a repeater before the repeater drops.  This change will remove the static crash (repeater tail) from your receiver.  If you are close to the repeater anyway.  So you hearing nothing may have been normal.  That's gonna depend on your radio and how the repeater owner has the repeater programmed.