[G0HZU_JMR]

I just dug out my old FT290R, blew the dust off it, put it in repeater mode and tried the CALL button on 145.725MHz. This is GB3CG and I think this is in Churchdown near Gloucester. It seemed to work with a 1750Hz tone because the repeater opened and gave a K and a pause. This radio does not have CTCSS. I stopped 'operating' on the 2m band many, many years ago. I've never even used this FT290R for a contact, I bought it as an ebay bargain for about £35 a long time ago when these radios were worth next to nothing. The idea was to sling it in the car as a backup to a mobile phone but I never got around to installing it. It does still seem to work though.

I tried again using my Marconi 2024 sig gen set to a 1750Hz toneburst and +20dBm power and that opened the repeater as well. I then tried setting the 2024 to give a CTCSS tone at 118.8Hz and that worked as well. But I only had to shift this tone a few Hz and the repeater rejected it.

I also tried the same on the nearby GB3MH repeater but got nothing for a 1750Hz tone or the required 88.5Hz CTCSS tone. I think this repeater is operational but so far it hasn't popped up with any ID transmissions.

In this area there are a few regulars on 2m and there is usually someone calling on S20 every few minutes or so in the late afternoon or very early evening. I don't monitor the local repeaters but when I have looked in the past they always seem to be unused. Such a contrast to the repeater mayhem of 30-35 years ago!