Newbie question about repeaters

[WSEN246]

Good evening folks,

I got my license a few weeks back, and got myself a set of  2 Baofeng GM-15 pro radios, and 2 Baofeng G11S radios. They looked like decent starter sets until I get the hang of what I got myself into. They have already come in handy when the girlfriend's bird escaped the house, and we were able to split up but stay in contact while on opposite side of our little town. That was very impressive to someone that has only ever used the cheap bubble packs from Walmart. (Yes, we got the bird back safe and sound)

 I wanted to get into this for hunting season here in West Virginia. Long story short, I hunt with my father, and one other friend when he is able to go. My father's best years are behind him, so he sits in a self-made shack that might as well be a hotel room at the edge of one of our farm fields, while myself and my buddy wander through the woods. I grew up in these woods, so I'm not too worried about myself alone out there, but my buddy came here from Arizona, and is not so seasoned. We have tried to use those old bubble pack radios to stay in contact, but we all know those things have pretty limited range on a good day. I would like to get my radios set up to allow all of us to stay in contact in case of any issues, and I know that with no obstructions, we would be grand, but this is WV, and flat land is not exactly a hallmark of our state. 

Here's the kicker. We do have a repeater nearby that is open access. The owner is either pumping all the power to it, or it is on top of one of the higher mountains in the area as it claims to have a 70 mile range, right in the heart of the mountains. Now I know the mountains and hills are limiting factors, but this one particular repeater is at the end of the valley we will be in, so I am holding out hope we can reach it. I will test this coming weekend when I go back home to see. 

So now that you know the situation, on to the question. I have a repeater near where I live, but have yet to run into anyone on it to verify I am set up on it properly. I want to make sure I am so that when I go home this weekend, I don't have my settings incorrect. The one I have local to me is as follows:
 

Frequency	462.625 MHz
Output Tone	141.3 Hz
Input Tone	141.3 Hz

I have set it in my GM-15 pro on channel 26, which should match the frequency given. I have set the Tx tone to the 141.3 and tried the Rx tone at the 141.3, but never received anything. At the suggestion of another page in the forum, I removed the Rx tone, and now when I kerchunk, I get a response making me think I am on the right track. I have tried turning another radio on, but when I do a check on the repeater channel, I get nothing on the second radio with the same settings. 

I know that there is a frequency offset, so I know that when I transmit on channel 26, I am technically transmitting at 5 MHZ higher, but I should be getting the response on the repeater channel as well as channel 18 correct? I just want to make sure I don't need to have the other radio on a separate channel to receive.  

In case it helps any, the repeater back home I would like to make contact on this coming weekend is this one:

Frequency	462.700 MHz
Output Tone	100.0 Hz
Input Tone	100.0 Hz

Again, I have set it on channel 29, with the Tx tone of 100.0 and left the Rx tone open. 

Sorry to be so long winded with this, I just want to make sure I am doing this correctly. Thanks in advance for any advice, I really appreciate it!

 

[WRUU653]

You already seem to have a good understanding of your radios so that’s great. One thing I’ll say is if you have two radios right next to each other they can desense each other. So when testing your repeater contact move them apart maybe 50’. You’re on the right track.

[SteveShannon]

39 minutes ago, WSEN246 said:

Good evening folks,

I got my license a few weeks back, and got myself a set of  2 Baofeng GM-15 pro radios, and 2 Baofeng G11S radios. They looked like decent starter sets until I get the hang of what I got myself into. They have already come in handy when the girlfriend's bird escaped the house, and we were able to split up but stay in contact while on opposite side of our little town. That was very impressive to someone that has only ever used the cheap bubble packs from Walmart. (Yes, we got the bird back safe and sound)

 I wanted to get into this for hunting season here in West Virginia. Long story short, I hunt with my father, and one other friend when he is able to go. My father's best years are behind him, so he sits in a self-made shack that might as well be a hotel room at the edge of one of our farm fields, while myself and my buddy wander through the woods. I grew up in these woods, so I'm not too worried about myself alone out there, but my buddy came here from Arizona, and is not so seasoned. We have tried to use those old bubble pack radios to stay in contact, but we all know those things have pretty limited range on a good day. I would like to get my radios set up to allow all of us to stay in contact in case of any issues, and I know that with no obstructions, we would be grand, but this is WV, and flat land is not exactly a hallmark of our state. 

Here's the kicker. We do have a repeater nearby that is open access. The owner is either pumping all the power to it, or it is on top of one of the higher mountains in the area as it claims to have a 70 mile range, right in the heart of the mountains. Now I know the mountains and hills are limiting factors, but this one particular repeater is at the end of the valley we will be in, so I am holding out hope we can reach it. I will test this coming weekend when I go back home to see. 

So now that you know the situation, on to the question. I have a repeater near where I live, but have yet to run into anyone on it to verify I am set up on it properly. I want to make sure I am so that when I go home this weekend, I don't have my settings incorrect. The one I have local to me is as follows:
 

Frequency	462.625 MHz
Output Tone	141.3 Hz
Input Tone	141.3 Hz

I have set it in my GM-15 pro on channel 26, which should match the frequency given. I have set the Tx tone to the 141.3 and tried the Rx tone at the 141.3, but never received anything. At the suggestion of another page in the forum, I removed the Rx tone, and now when I kerchunk, I get a response making me think I am on the right track. I have tried turning another radio on, but when I do a check on the repeater channel, I get nothing on the second radio with the same settings. 

I know that there is a frequency offset, so I know that when I transmit on channel 26, I am technically transmitting at 5 MHZ higher, but I should be getting the response on the repeater channel as well as channel 18 correct? I just want to make sure I don't need to have the other radio on a separate channel to receive.  

In case it helps any, the repeater back home I would like to make contact on this coming weekend is this one:

Frequency	462.700 MHz
Output Tone	100.0 Hz
Input Tone	100.0 Hz

Again, I have set it on channel 29, with the Tx tone of 100.0 and left the Rx tone open. 

Sorry to be so long winded with this, I just want to make sure I am doing this correctly. Thanks in advance for any advice, I really appreciate it!

 

Yes, it looks like you’re doing everything correctly.  Maybe have your friend from AZ test the radios with you.  As Gil suggested above put 50 feet or so of distance between you to avoid desensing.

[GreggInFL]

On 9/23/2024 at 11:36 PM, WSEN246 said:

At the suggestion of another page in the forum, I removed the Rx tone, and now when I kerchunk, I get a response making me think I am on the right track. I have tried turning another radio on, but when I do a check on the repeater channel, I get nothing on the second radio with the same settings. 

You'll like those radios.  The wife and I use them.  As others have said, put some space between them and try to talk via the repeater.

[WSEN246]

I appreciate the suggestions folks. When I head home Friday, I'll get out with my father and play around with that longer range repeater to see what I can come up with. Thanks again for the support!

[GreggInFL]

Inquiring minds want to know.  So, did it work?

[WSEN246]

On 10/1/2024 at 12:51 PM, GreggInFL said:

Inquiring minds want to know.  So, did it work?

Hey, so it did, and better than I had anticipated. 

Long story short, I got caught up in some of that hurricane carnage that swept through where I was going, and I didn't get to check all of the spots that I wanted to between my limited time there, and dealing with the weather/downed trees/flooding/flat tires. HOWEVER, I am happy to report that the larger range repeater can be pinged from my parents' font porch, and radio checks several miles away also allowed it to be pinged. I wasn't able to hop the mountain to our hunting grounds to see if it can be pinged over there, but from the areas I could hit it, that gives me hope since I was hitting it from further away with a mountain between us. 

The best news out of all of this is I went down for a wedding, and of course the show must go on right? A lot of out of staters were coming in for this wedding, and the location for it was kind of in the back woods. Some of the family was staying there the night before with the bride and groom to get ready for the wedding in the morning, No cell phone service and downed lines made communication impossible for last minute needs when it comes to the things they left states away. The family was super impressed that I had a set of radios that could communicate just fine across a pretty good distance with no power or cell service needed. 

All in all, I would say it was a success. 

[TrikeRadio]

1 hour ago, WSEN246 said:

... The family was super impressed that I had a set of radios that could communicate just fine across a pretty good distance with no power or cell service needed.

That is the best part of it all! My family looks at me and wonders why I mess with radios.
I guess I'll need to have a natural disaster happen around here to validate my radios.

[WRXB215]

10 hours ago, TrikeRadio said:

I guess I'll need to have a natural disaster happen around here to validate my radios.

We just went through a hurricane and could only communicate via ham and GMRS and my wife still isn't interested.