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Author Topic: 2m operating question  (Read 460 times)

WT1V

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2m operating question
« on: June 13, 2022, 03:05:11 PM »

This may seem like a silly question.  I have a 2m Azden that's been in mothballs for 25 years and I'm finally getting back into ham radio. So I powered the unit up and went online to lookup a directory of nearby repeaters. I found a repeater in Vernon, Ct (close to my QTH) and tuned this thing to 145.110 as listed in the repeater directory. After nosing around I did find someone on the frequency. So I made contact to verify the unit still works. Then I found out that the signal wasn't that good and his answer was that I was communicating in simplex mode and that I was talking directly to him in his mobile unit!  I guess that I should have a different TX freq to the repeater, and a separate for receiving ie duplex.  But the repeater directory didn't mention any offset for this repeater!Any comments on this situation are welcome!  BTW I mostly do CW! So I am a newbie at this 2m stuff.
wt1v
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W0WCA

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Re: 2m operating question
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2022, 03:55:45 PM »

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K3XR

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Re: 2m operating question
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2022, 04:20:05 PM »

What more can be added...the search engine is your friend! ;D
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K0UA

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Re: 2m operating question
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2022, 04:48:06 PM »

Well, a 145.110 repeater will normally have a negative 600khz offset.

I assume you are talking about the 145.110 repeater with callsign W1BRS at Box mountain.

Not only will it have the - offset which you will have to program into your rig, you will also need a 77 hz CTCSS tone on your transmit signal.  Your rig may or may not be capable of transmitting this 77 hz tone. CTCSS stands for Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System. The Motorola trade name for that is PL, the General Electric trade name is Channel Guard, the RCA (as if anyone cares about RCA anymore ) is Quiet Channel. Most people call it PL or CTCSS which is its genric name.  If you had look carefully at the repeater directory it would have mentioned the negative offset  (-) and the PL frequency of 77 hz.

Of course ALL repeaters have offsets, not all have CTCSS needs. Think about how a repeater works and it will become apparent to you that a repeater cannot transmit and receive on the same frequency at the same time. 

Yes, yes, yes, I know there has been such a thing as a simplex frequency store and forward repeater before someone says, Yahbut.  But when was the last time you saw one?  I am betting the first of never. I have never seen, heard, felt, or smelt of one. 
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73  James K0UA

K0UA

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Re: 2m operating question
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2022, 04:51:35 PM »

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73  James K0UA

K0UA

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Re: 2m operating question
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2022, 04:59:04 PM »

You didn't give any information about your rig like model number for instance so I cannot be of much more assistance in determining if the old rig has CTCSS or not. If it does not have it, it won't be of much use, except for simplex contacts. New Two meter FM rigs are cheap. :)
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73  James K0UA

WT1V

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Re: 2m operating question
« Reply #6 on: June 14, 2022, 07:24:04 AM »

K0AU:  The rig I'm using is a little old: AZDEN PCS-7000H!!!  It still works and hasn't been used for 30 years!  It tests good with my SA. It was used way back then in a Chevy S10 pickup truck and the installation was quite simple, not like in today's cars! (Another discussion) So I'm setting it up in the shack with my spare PS using a wall mounted J Pole ant. After looking around on the web, it seems like the TX frequency has to be 600 kHz higher for duplex operation in the middle of the 2m band. The repeater directory that I found online shows NO offset and no tone codes! That would be simplex operation and doesn't make any sense. So I'm thinking about getting the ARRL repeater directory which should have all the information that I need to set this thing up.
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WT1V

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Re: 2m operating question
« Reply #7 on: June 14, 2022, 07:54:31 AM »

After looking at the directory again it does show a - offset and a 77hz tone!  Never mentioned that there was a standard 600khz offset so I, mistakenly, thought there was no offset.  Should have known better. So I am assuming that I have to set up the TX freq to be 600 kHz lower than the rx freq. I did notice that quite a few CT repeaters use the same 77 Hz tone. So my next question is when I scan the band and find something interesting, unless I have this frequency set up in memory, with the codes, I won't be able to communicate unless I manually set up for this frequency!  But if I set up various channels into memory, I can scan the set up memory's and that is the correct way to set this thing up for normal use. BTW 99% of my work is CW and that is why I look like such a beginner.
73 wt1v
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K0UA

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Re: 2m operating question
« Reply #8 on: June 15, 2022, 05:31:09 AM »

It looks like you have it figured out now, and are well on your way.

73  James K0UA
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73  James K0UA

N7EKU

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Re: 2m operating question
« Reply #9 on: June 15, 2022, 06:54:09 AM »

Hi,

Most rigs (yours included) start up with a default offset, and that is the one that most every repeater uses.  So for your particular one, all you need to do is make sure that duplex operation is on and then set up the tone encoder for that repeater.  On your rig is says that is code 04.  It's not so old -- I've got a 3000 model!

73
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Mark -- N7EKU/VE3
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