newby question

[WRYW303]

To begin with, I'm a newby so pardon my "stupid" questions as I'm trying to learn reading and looking at videos.  I gotta admit it's frustrating as a newby trying to access my 1st repeater and trying to make friends on the GMRS but I'm sure I'm not alone and I don't give up easily so I will continue with GMRS.  Meanwhile I'm trying to access this local repeater and I looked in the directory within myGMRS.com and it only stated the Tone with a dpl value.  I tried various inputs using CHIRP and nothing seems to work.  I say nothing because after I try to log in to the repeater, I get no repeater greeting / identification message.   So I'm pretty sure I don't have the right set up in my CHIRP to access it and according to the repeater map, I should be within its range.  Any help would be appreciated. 

[WRYS709]

Radio? Repeater name and location?

Generally speaking it is best, at least in the beginning, to not include any Receive tone in your programming, as incorrect inputs may be the problem.  Try it again without any Receive tone.

HT? Try again outside and from a location that you expect to be line of sight to the location of the repeater.

[gortex2]

GMRS is normally a bring your friends along service. If your here to find friends you may be disappointed. Yes there are some areas that are ham like but alot of areas gmrs is radio to radio or user groups that really wont answer another user....

 

[WRYS709]

3 hours ago, gortex2 said:

If your here to find friends you may be disappointed...

How Texas became known as The Friendly State

East Coast GMRS... not so much!

[quarterwave]

In chirp, just use the T-DCS until you get more familiar. That way, you won't have any mixed tone issues with receive and you'll just hear anything on that channel. 

Also, keep in mind, some repeaters may not give you any indication you hit it, it you are just kerchunking. If they have the hang timer at 0, by the time your radio switches back to receive, the TX has dropped anyway. If you have another receiver near, maybe with a remote or outdoor antenna, you can hear it. Else, you'll need to make contact with someone to see if your in.