How a repeater works
The things a repeater list assumes you already know: what a shift is, why your radio needs a tone, and what separates the three digital modes.
- What a repeater is, and how to work oneA repeater listens on one frequency and retransmits on another, turning a handheld with a few watts into a station heard across a region. How offsets, shifts and access tones fit together.
- CTCSS and DCS tones: the full tone list, explainedThe 50 standard CTCSS tones from 67.0 to 254.1 Hz, how DCS codes differ, what Tone and TSQL do on your radio, and why a repeater stays silent when the tone is wrong.
- DMR vs C4FM vs D-STAR: the differences, and how to chooseThree digital voice modes on the same bands, none compatible with the others. Codec, channel width, networks, radios and setup effort compared, pair by pair.
- EchoLink, AllStar and IRLP: repeaters over the internetThree systems that carry analogue audio between repeaters over the internet, so a handheld can reach across the world. How they differ and what each asks of you.
- How to read a Maidenhead grid locatorJN54tu is a place on Earth, written in six characters. How the grid works, how precise each pair is, and why amateurs use it instead of latitude and longitude.