Hello, this is Darrell Wilson, KN4ZYA. I set up as a member this morning and am looking forward to more involvement with amateur radio. I moved from Raleigh to Elkin last October and as of April 1, consider myself "moved in." I do not have a lot of experience with ham radio (Technician class) so am excited about learning more.

I have a question - in Raleigh I somehow managed to get my 2-meter radio to work on the RARS repeater but after many attempts have been unable to bring up any repeaters in this area with my bench radio which is a TYT TH-8600. I know my antenna is working at least to some degree (never used it in Raleigh) because I am able to bring up with local CAP repeater with a different radio - plus, I can hear and recive simplex with my handheld. I've tried everything I can think of. There is very little support online (except lots of complaints about there being no support). Is there any chance there might be someone in FARC who can help? Additionally, I have an older Kenwood HF that I will want to activate when I'm able to put up a wire antenna but I will need a balun and SWR meter. If anyone has a recommendation for something affordable (I'm on a budget) I would really appreciate it.

Thank you for making this possible!

Darrell

You guys are a talkative bunch...

KN4ZYA (Darrell Wilson) wrote:

I have a question - in Raleigh I somehow managed to get my 2-meter radio to work on the RARS repeater but after many attempts have been unable to bring up any repeaters in this area with my bench radio which is a TYT TH-8600. I know my antenna is working at least to some degree (never used it in Raleigh) because I am able to bring up with local CAP repeater with a different radio - plus, I can hear and recive simplex with my handheld.

I would suggest checking to make sure that the proper offset (-.6) is set plus check that you have the right tone to activate the repeater. If you still have issues, feel free to bring the radio with you on field day and I'm sure we'll get it going for you...