[This followup was posted to rec.radio.amateur.misc and a copy was sent
to the cited author.]

In article et,
says...

I am new to ham radios. I live in Norcross, Georgia. I haven't been able
to
communicate with any one yet. I have a Vertex VX-150. Do I have to
connect to a repeater to converse. If so, what steps do I take to connect to
the repeater. The nearest one to me is Stone Mountain W4BOC 146.760 -
146.160 107.2 . I intend to join a amateur radio group this month.

I would recommend tuning your rig to 146.52 FM simplex (no repeater) and
listen for a little while. If you don't hear anyone, put out a CQ call
and see what you get. That'll put you in touch with some local hams on
the air who can shepherd you through your first few QSOs. The advantage
to this is that you will be communicating on a line-of-sight basis, so
anyone you talk to either resides locally or is driving through your
area. It's a great way to meet fellow amateurs in your local community.

Repeater operation is only slightly more complex, as each repeater (and
its owner(s)) have their own way of doing things. The object lesson is
to listen on a particular repeater frequency, see how people conduct
themselves, and when you feel comfortable jump on in. Instead of
calling CQ on a repeater channel, you would say, "KI4BSP, monitoring."
That just tells folks you're there, and interested in a conversation.
If you don't hear any replies, wait a few minutes and try it again.

The information you provided about the Stone Mountain W4BOC repeater
translates thus:

146.760 MHz is the output frequency of the repeater.
146.160 MHz is the input frequency.
107.2 is the CTCSS or "PL" tone used to access the repeater.

Translated, this means:

1) Turn your radio to the 146.76 frequency.
2) Set it to use a "minus" offset. Unless otherwise specified,
all 2m repeaters use a 600 kHz offset, up or down depending
on the output frequency. The term offset indicates how far
down or up the input frequency is.
3) Set it to use a CTCSS tone of 107.2. This is a sub-audible
tone that inserted on your transmit signal. The repeater
will listen for that tone and only allow signals coming
in to "open" the repeater up that carry that signal. The
repeater will then retransmit that signal in real-time
on the output frequency.

Forgive me if I elaborated on things you might already know, but judging
from the original posting it sounded like you were pretty new to the
idea of operating through a repeater. Hope it was helpful.

--

-- //Steve//

Steve Silverwood, KB6OJS
Fountain Valley, CA
Email:
Web: http://home.earthlink.net/~kb6ojs_steve