Help with my novice question regarding my GMRS handheld

[WRXJ732]

I just bought the Baofeng UV-9G and have so many questions.  I added connected to three repeaters and yet to be able to connect with anyone.  Am I doing something wrong?  Is there an active GMRS community in the Northeast Illinois area?  I want to know if my handheld actually works.  Please help a novice user out.

[OffRoaderX]

If you are hitting the repeater you should hear a 'kerchunk' or static-blip when you unkey.  So yah, you might be doing something wrong, but it's hard to tell with the information you have provided.

[WRXJ732]

Yeah - still trying to figure this out.  I thought this would be easy. Silly me.

[SteveShannon]

44 minutes ago, WRXJ732 said:

Yeah - still trying to figure this out.  I thought this would be easy. Silly me.

We might be able to talk you through it. What frequency are you transmitting on? Are you sure you programmed the correct code for transmitting?

Also, I recommend leaving the receiver tone empty, at least until you know for sure that you’re getting into the repeater. If you leave the tone off of the receiver you’ll hear everything so you’ll have a better idea of whether you’re getting into the repeater. 

[WRUU653]

How are you programming the radio? You may find using chirp is easier than putting it in the front. If you are using chirp can you give us a screenshot? We may be able to help with a bit more info. It looks like you are near a repeater.

[WRPL700]

I have the sister HT Baofeng GMRS-9R

You can manually input the CTCSS codes through the menu. In your manual, page 11, it shows the MENU button as item #15. Once there just scroll through the menu items to get to Recieving CTCSS and Transmitting CTCSS this is on page 26 of the manual.

Your radio is a good little radio for the money.

If you are still having troubles, just keep asking questions....  we really don't mind.