Why won’t my radio transmit to a repeater?

[Widowsson]

Total newbie here. I’m sure this same scenario has been solved a thousand times on this forum but I couldn’t find a thread specific to this:

I was able to transmit to and receive from repeater yesterday but I was told my reception was terrible. So I purchased a magnetic mount antenna and installed it on the roof on top of a cookie sheet. I was super excited but upon testing I’m not getting a reply back. My other radio, set on the same repeater channel lights up and beeps only AFTER I speak and release the button on the radio. This is happening regardless of which radio I attempt to transmit with. 
 

I have the r and t ctcss codes set to 141.3 which is what it was set to yesterday when I actually made a successful transmission, however poorly, it did go through. 
 

I fumbled with the radio for many embarrassing hours before making the first transmission and had changed quite a few settings. I did a reset on the device so I’m thinking I deleted a needed setting.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
 

 

[Guest]

What radios are you using?  Are you face programming or computer?   How far away are you?  Have you tried driving closer?   A repeater may have a huge foot print to transmit on but you may be to far away for you to transmit into if you may have something between you and it or you may have local interference(other radios near by, ac units, TVs, neighbors wi fi routers ect…..). 

[TrikeRadio]

Hard to tell from that... if you are using the same setup / radio... and the antennae is the only change...  maybe the connection to the antenna is the problem? or the coax, or your radio just can't push enough power through that coax and antennae?  can you talk simplex through the new antenna to any other radio (if you have two of them?

[Widowsson]

Thanks for the reply. Yes I can talk to my other radios from the radio hooked up to the new antenna. When I reached the repeater yesterday I was able to do it with just the stock antenna. 

[Widowsson]

I am unable to reach the repeater with any radio.

[TrikeRadio]

Do you know the distance to the repeater and do you have a line of sight to it ?

Do you know if the repeater only requires a CTCSS code on the TX  and not on the output? If they dont repeat transmit with the same 141.3  code and you have it on your RX.. you would not hear it

 

[Widowsson]

23 hours ago, WRXP381 said:

What radios are you using?  Are you face programming or computer?   How far away are you?  Have you tried driving closer?   A repeater may have a huge foot print to transmit on but you may be to far away for you to transmit into if you may have something between you and it or you may have local interference(other radios near by, ac units, TVs, neighbors wi fi routers ect…..). 

I was using Baofeng uv-9g with a magnetic base antenna on the roof. Real newbie attempt.  Ive played around with chirp a little bit. Im about 1 mile outside the radius of every repeater around me. I ordered a base unit and power supply and someone made me a good offer for a good antenna and some lmr400 so we'll see what next week brings.

On 7/12/2024 at 8:39 PM, TrikeRadio said:

Do you know the distance to the repeater and do you have a line of sight to it ?

Do you know if the repeater only requires a CTCSS code on the TX  and not on the output? If they dont repeat transmit with the same 141.3  code and you have it on your RX.. you would not hear it

 

I managed to hit the repeater. Its about 20 miles but im going to upgrade some things before I try again. 

[SteveShannon]

On 7/12/2024 at 6:39 PM, TrikeRadio said:

Do you know if the repeater only requires a CTCSS code on the TX  and not on the output? If they dont repeat transmit with the same 141.3  code and you have it on your RX.. you would not hear it

 

If you leave the tone off your receiver it will receive everything, whether there’s an output tone or not.

[Widowsson]

12 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

If you leave the tone off your receiver it will receive everything, whether there’s an output tone or not.

if the repeater can be received with or without the r-ctcss tone then what is its purpose?

[OffRoaderX]

1 minute ago, Widowsson said:

if the repeater can be received with or without the r-ctcss tone then what is its purpose?

It's so you only hear the repeater and not everyone else chattering on the shared simplex channel or other repeaters on the same channel.  it is 100% optional.

[amaff]

Same reason my radios have a set of GMRS channels with tones enabled (so they can talk amongst themselves and not hear anyone else), and another set without so I can listen to anything being transmitted in the open.

But for troubleshooting purposes and to make sure there's not something funky going on, it's useful to disable the receive tone on the radio to make sure you're hearing the repeater without a tone set.

[WSDL599]

I do have the same issue with My GM-5RH, it does not transmit either, however my other radios with the same setting do transmit, not sure if there is additional steps must complete .