Picked up Yaesu Ft-60, trying to hit Paxton Repeater, need some help

[Proud Citizen]

Finally got up to HRO in Salem yesterday after passing my tech license in January. Since i'm new to this, I went with a Yaesu FT-60 to get started. Upgraded the antenna to Pryme RD-98 High Gain Antenna and added a MH-34B4B speaker/mic.

Slowly figuring out how to operate the FT-60, but am dissapointed I cant hit the Paxton repeater. The only thing I have been to get to come through is weather band, everything else is just static. For the Paxton repeater, I just type in 146.970 right? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I did join CMARA last month, went to the February meeting, still need to make some contacts though. Hoping NES can help get me going here. Thanks!

 

[Rider]

Congratulations on getting your ticket, and another thing to spend ungodly amounts of money on.

Most repeaters are duplex. Do you have the offset (+/-) set properly? How far away is the repeater?

I got a new handheld last year, and was disappointed how dead 2 meters is most of the time.

 

[Radio]

You need to set the OFFSET and the PL TONE for Paxton, The offset is MINUS (-) 600 and the PL TONE is 114.8, the radio should already be set for auto offset so you should see a minus sign in the display and when you push the PTT to transmit the radio should display the input frequency of 146.370. You probably only need to set the PL TONE

 

[Radio]

You also might want to program in the Worcester WPI repeater 146.925 also MINUS 600 offset with a PL tone of 100.0

 

[cockpitbob]

Are you using a programming cable and software? I have an FT-60 and use FT60 Commander (freeware). It makes programming a LOT easier. I could even send you an FT-60 Commander file that already has a ton of repeaters and some satellites programmed into it.

 

[Proud Citizen]

Thanks for the feedback, I do have the auto offet on, shows 146.370 when I PTT. However, I cant find anything in the manual regarding adjusting PL tone, can someone walk me through that?

Also, I did also buy the ADMS-1J software, just havent tried using it yet, thought it would be best to focus on basic operation first.

 

[cockpitbob]

As one guy put it, a computer has a 20" screen and over 100 keys on the keyboard. An HT is a computer with a 2" screen and 16 keys on the keyboard. A real PITA to program. That's why I use a computer.

The basic steps are: store freq in a Memory location then you edit that location with the PL tone and offset direction.

First, store the frequency in a memory location. The cheat sheet below describes the process. Ignore the Memory Bank stuff.

The "Actions" are
P: push
H: hold for more than 1 sec.
R: rotate

Once you have the repeater frequency programmed into a memory location you need edit that location to set the PL tone and offset direction. Follow these steps:

1) Press V/M to get into Memory mode. You should see the number of the memory location in the upper left.
2) Press F/W then SET. This gets you into the 56 different setups.
3) Rotate to #4 ARS. Press F/W. Rotate for ARS ON. Press F/W again to leave that setup parameter. Now automatic repeater shift is on and it should set the 0.6MHz repeater offset automatically.

4) Rotate to #38 RPTMOD. Press F/W. Rotate for + or - for the offset direction (it should be correct, but double check it). Press F/W again to leave that setup parameter. Now it will treat that memory location as a repeater setup and use the 0.6MHz offset.
5) Rotate to #48 SQL TYP. Press F/W. Rotate to TONE. Press F/W again to leave that setup parameter.
6) Rotate to #50 TN FRQ. Press F/W. Rotate to the correct PL tone frequency. Press F/W again to leave that setup parameter.
7) Press the PTT switch to leave the 56 setups.

You should be good to go.


Simple, right?

 

[Proud Citizen]

Ok, Cockpitbob's post made me thinkg perhaps I should try the software out. Much easier! I have the Paxton and WPI repeaters now programmed and working! Thanks!