I can trigger repeater, but no one hears me.

[MordeKyle]

I have two GMRS handhelds. I am trying to hit a local repeater. When I key up and release, I get a tone back from the repeater. No one ever hears my traffic though. I have the CTCSS set to 141.3 on RX and TX as it says on the repeaters page. I am not sure what I could be doing wrong. 

The handhelds are a Btech GMRS PRO and a Wouxun UV9GX. I also just got a programming cable for the Wouxun. CHIRPS seems to have different tone settings, so maybe I need to adjust something there? 

Any help us greatly appreciated. I'm trying to learn as much as I can. 

Thanks! 

[MordeKyle]

1 hour ago, Socalgmrs said:

If you’re getting the kerchunk or tone back your settings are correct.   I’d bet yuur just too far away.  How far are you?  What antennas are you running?  Do you have line of sight?   What are your surroundings like? 

I don't know exactly where the repeater is, but I think I was pretty close. Within a couple miles at most. 

I have a Nagoya 771G on the Btech and the stock antenna on the Wouxun. 

Just got a couple of the Smiley Super Sticks to try out. I'm definitely too far away at home. Was going to drive out there this weekend to try again. 

[wayoverthere]

Are you testing with the two handhelds in basically the same location? If so, since the repeater is passing the transmitted audio in realtime it's entirely possible that the audio is getting through, but the nearby signal from the transmitting radio is causing the other radio to desense (or "go deaf"), so it doesn't "hear" the audio coming back.

Having done a little testing for/with desense, the behavior in practice is pretty much what you described ...receiving radio shows an incoming signal, but no audio.

Unless there's some pretty severe barrier (like a hill/mountain) to the signal (or a pretty bad blind spot near the repeater), getting into the repeater from a couple miles away should be doable.

[Socalgmrs]

If you’re getting the kerchunk or tone back your settings are correct.   I’d bet yuur just too far away.  How far are you?  What antennas are you running?  Do you have line of sight?   What are your surroundings like?