Loading ...New Ham + VX-170 + Local Repeater = No Joy
In my continuing quest to Not Be A Poser, I brought my shiny new Yaesu VX-170 handheld transceiver (HT) along with me on my trip to the US Midwest. I’ve had it for weeks, and this trip seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out. The manual for the HT seems daunting at first glance - over 80 pages of features, functions and settings - but the basic operational portion is clear.
I did a bit of web searching to track down a local repeater and found KI8AY in the area, at 145.27 (-) MHz. My understanding of repeaters - and do write me and correct me if I’m mistaken - is that I key in that frequency, lurk a bit to make sure I’m not stepping on any traffic, then transmit my callsign and “monitoring” status. No “CQ! CQ!”, no “hey, I’m big ol’ noob”, just callsign and status.
After listening to that frequency for about 15 minutes, I summoned up my courage and did exactly that: “KE7SLS monitoring.”
Nothing.
Now, the deal is that I’m not supposed to do that repeatedly, no pun intended, but I tried once more, and made sure that I enunciated clearly. Again, no response.
One of three things must have happened: (1) I keyed incorrectly, and didn’t transmit anything; (2) I transmitted just fine and there was nobody to hear me; or (3) I transmitted just fine and someone heard me but didn’t respond. The problem is that I don’t know which of those three happened which makes for some tricky troubleshooting.
I did verify the frequency, and I verified the negative offset, so that much is correct. I did key in the frequency correctly, and I know the Push-To-Talk (PTT) worked fine. The only thing that I might have missed would be some aspect of the connect-to-repeater process, and I’m not sure how to fix that.
So, it’s back to the drawing board (and the user forums) to find out the best way to use a local repeater. On the bright side, I busted open that box and tried to get on the air. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and I’m one step closer to earning the “HAM” sticker sent to me in my ARRL New Ham Kit.
June 22nd, 2008 at 4:42 pm
I follow you on Twitter (mtmartin) and came over here to read about your HT woes. I used to travel everywhere with my HT. Sometimes people will just not respond to hearing a callsign, depends on how friendly they are and how busy the repeater is. Did you hear the repeater courtesy tone in response to your key? If not, the PL could have changed or the repeater could be using a non-standard offset. Or, you may just be too far away. When you hear someone try listening to them on the repeater input (REV) if you can hear them you know you have the right offset, assuming that they are close enough to hear on simplex. Good luck, and keep at it. 73, Marty - KD6WKS
June 22nd, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Thanks! I did *not* hear a courtesy tone (which I, of course, completely forgot about), so now I know that I wasn’t keyed in correctly. I may try a couple of repeaters until I hear someone. Thanks for the tips, and for responding. 73, KE7SLS
August 25th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Did you remember to set up the CTCSS tone? That’s usually a required component for repeater to differentiate your transmission from QRM.