Connecting to Multiple Repeaters In My Area

[WRWH433]

Quick question for you guys who have been doing this longer than me.

There are 2 repeaters in my area on the same frequency.

One of them has input and output tones, and the other one doesn't.

I'd like to be able to use them both depending on where I am in the area.

Can you generally set up two different repeater channels?

One with the input/output tones, and one without?

Thanks in advance!

 

[WRUU653]

9 minutes ago, WRWH433 said:

Quick question for you guys who have been doing this longer than me.

There are 2 repeaters in my area on the same frequency.

One of them has input and output tones, and the other one doesn't.

I'd like to be able to use them both depending on where I am in the area.

Can you generally set up two different repeater channels?

One with the input/output tones, and one without?

Thanks in advance!

 

Yes. Also if you leave the RX tones off on your setting for the one with tones you'll hear both as well as any simplex. 

 

[KAF6045]

Note that if one repeater is NOT USING an INPUT tone -- it will respond to any signal on the frequency, whether that signal has a tone or not.

In that situation, setting one channel with the input tone of the other repeater, but leaving the output tone empty, will result in one's radio basically receiving whichever repeater has the stronger signal (FM "capture effect").

[WRKC935]

OK, there is NO WAY that can work. 

If there are TWO repeaters in the same area, and one doesn't have any input PL tone on it, that repeater would come up every time the other repeater was keyed up if the user could be heard by both repeaters. 

And if both repeaters could be heard by the user, their radio would howl and have very poor receive audio due to the frequency difference (slight mismatch) between the two repeaters.

Now one of them might not have a TX PL tone.  That is completely possible.  But the receive PL would be required on both and both would need to be different to keep both repeaters from transmitting when someone keyed them up.

 

 

[WRUU653]

 

9 hours ago, WRKC935 said:

OK, there is NO WAY that can work. 

If there are TWO repeaters in the same area, and one doesn't have any input PL tone on it, that repeater would come up every time the other repeater was keyed up if the user could be heard by both repeaters. 

And if both repeaters could be heard by the user, their radio would howl and have very poor receive audio due to the frequency difference (slight mismatch) between the two repeaters.

Now one of them might not have a TX PL tone.  That is completely possible.  But the receive PL would be required on both and both would need to be different to keep both repeaters from transmitting when someone keyed them up.

 

I agree with what you are saying here but...  

17 hours ago, WRWH433 said:

I'd like to be able to use them both depending on where I am in the area

and maybe I misunderstood but I thought he was saying he wanted to program both in his radio (just the same channel/frequency with different settings) so depending on where he was and which one was in range he could have both programed to use. 

[WRWH433]

WRUU653 is correct. These 2 repeaters don't overlap, so I would essentially be using one in certain parts of my area, and the other in other parts of my area.

I'd like to be able to have them both programmed on my radio, so I can hit one when i'm in range of it, and the other when i'm in range of it without having to make changes every time.

Am I understanding KAF6045 correctly in that the one with no input or output tones would accept any tones, so I could program according to the one that DOES require input and output tones and still be able to use the one that doesn't because it's accepts any and all?

That would be perfect if it's that simple.

[WRUU653]

54 minutes ago, WRWH433 said:

Am I understanding KAF6045 correctly in that the one with no input or output tones would accept any tones, so I could program according to the one that DOES require input and output tones and still be able to use the one that doesn't because it's accepts any and all?

Almost, Think of your radios set TX tone as a key to open the repeaters RX tone (the lock if you will) if the repeater doesn’t have a tone set then it’s already open to the frequency regardless and with no RX set on your radio you are open to all that is on that frequency. So leave the RX tone off on your radio. 

Edited February 24, 2023 by WRUU653
Correction

[WRWH433]

Ok. So, the repeater that has no tones set doesn't need a TX from me.

The repeater that DOES doesn't need me to have an RX set.

So by setting a TX tone and NOT setting an RX tone, I can use both when I am in range of either or.

Correct?

[SteveShannon]

2 minutes ago, WRWH433 said:

Ok. So, the repeater that has no tones set doesn't need a TX from me.

The repeater that DOES doesn't need me to have an RX set.

So by setting a TX tone and NOT setting an RX tone, I can use both when I am in range of either or.

Correct?

The repeater that doesn't require an input tone will repeat everything it hears on its input frequency.

The repeater that requires an input tone will only repeat those things that it hears which include the correct tone.

So, if you transmit using the input tone for the repeater that requires tones, and if you are within range of both, both repeaters will retransmit your transmission.

[WRKC935]

OK, program your radio for the input PL of the one repeater that does need it and do NOT program a RX PL in your radio on that channel.  It will hear BOTH repeaters.  Both repeaters will hear it because you will be transmitting the correct PL for the one that needs it and the other one doesn't care about the PL.  It's just gonna receive anything on the frequency regardless of the PL being used.

 

[WRWH433]

Thanks everyone!