1- Overview
This guide will help you communicate over public amateur radio repeaters.
Following this guide without a proper license and/or transmitting over licensed bands without respecting the terms of your license is illegal and can lead to fines of up to $5000 and up to a year of prison in Canada.1
If you are outside of Canada, following this guide may be illegal. Always review and follow local laws.
Why?
Repeaters can be used to communicate on longer distances than most mobile transceivers by using both higher power and better placement2.
Scope
This guide covers the following:
- What you need to use repeaters
- How to select repeaters
- How to configure a mobile transceiver to properly use a selected repeater
- How to communicate using proper procedure over repeaters
It does NOT cover the following:
- All applicable laws that must be followed although some warnings are present
- How to get an Amateur Radio License
- How to setup a repeater station, only their use is covered
- The details of usual repeater operations (I recommend Radio Amateurs of Canada's guide for that)
Prerequisites
In order to use licensed radio relays for communication, there are important prerequisites in terms of both equipment and license.
-
Licensed VHF radio (in this guide, we will be using the Yaesu FT-65R, but most should work)
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License to use both the uplink and downlink frequency bands. In Canada, this takes the form of a Amateur Radio Operator Certificate with Basics qualification for VHF and UHF frequencies or a Certificate with Basics with Honour qualification for HF frequencies3.
