Connecting to a repeater

[WSHI569]

Hello. I'm all new to GMRS and I just got my radio this week. I got a Baofeng UV9G. It's more complicated than I thought, especially the terminology. My question is twofold. Ok first, I can hear people talking on a repeater frequency so does that mean I can transmit to them? Second, I don't think they can hear me because I need to program my radio for that channel, and I would need RPTR channel 24, and my radio only goes to RPTR channel 8. Any help would be greatly appreciated! 

THANK YOU!

[OffRoaderX]

• First: NO, not necessarily - it depends if they are talking through a repeater or direct radio to radio (simplex)
• Second: If they are using a repeater you need the "tone" required to activate that repeater and you need to enter it into the correct repeater channel on your radio  - There are 8 repeater channels - SOME radios list them as Repeater 1 through 8, other radios list them as channels 23 through 30.. So if you do the math, on your radio that would be Repeater channel 2.

[WRUU653]

Here is a chart that shows the eight repeater channels in the red box (23-30, aka RPT-1 through RPT-8) as described by @OffRoaderX.

[TDM827]

So as OffRoadX mentions you need to get to repeater channel 2 and program the proper "Tone(s)" for that repeater into that channel you want to use.   

Those tones are the CTCSS or DCS tones the repeater uses to allow the repeater to open up or "hear" you. You may be able to hear repeater traffic all day long, but without the proper tones nobody on that repeated channel will ever hear you.  Sometimes those tones are listed on the MyGMRS site if they are an open repeater. Other times you have to contact the repeater owner for the tones, other times you may need to join a group or "club" to have access to the tones.  

As I recommend to all new users, hit you tube and there are plenty of great GMRS tutorials to watch. You might get lucky and find a video on how to program your specific radio.