Considering a Baofeng GT3-TP Mark III - Opinions?

[Jeffhs]

Most repeater activity on weekdays is during morning and afternoon rush hour, as this is when most hams are in their cars going to and from work. I don't know how popular mobile 2 meter FM is these days, given all the computer-operated stuff in most cars (fuel injection, antilock braking systems, etc.) and the potential for a high-power signal from a mobile 2-meter radio interfering with it.

Keep your HT on the local repeater (and the transmitter output at the absolute minimum necessary to reach the repeater) and just listen until you hear someone put out a call ("This is KA#--- listening"). This call indicates that the person originating it is looking for someone to talk to on the repeater. If you want to find someone to chat with, all you have to do is announce your call sign ("KA#--- listening"). If you do not hear a response, you can repeat your call, but don't do it more than twice or, at most, three times; to repeat the call endlessly is considered rude and annoying on 2m repeaters, and is an all-too-easy way to make yourself very unpopular with local amateurs.

Two-meter repeaters are equipped with timers that will shut down the repeater transmitter after a set length of time, usually three minutes, with or without audio. However, good practice dictates that transmissions be kept as short as possible on repeaters; this ordinarily means well under three minutes.

No one likes to hear someone gabbing away until the repeater "times out". I am a member of a radio club near here that operates a repeater on 147.81-21 (+600 kHz transmit offset). They do not like the idea of anyone, even club members (!), monopolizing the repeater until it times out. I once belonged to a repeater club in the Cleveland area which used to say "If you want to hear yourself talk, use a tape recorder, not an FM rig".

Finally, amateur repeaters are operated by radio clubs whose members support the repeater by annual donations. Ideally, you should join the club that operates the repeater you use the most; "freeloading", that is, the ill-advised practice of local amateurs using a repeater without supporting the club that sponsors it, is not appreciated on most repeaters.

Welcome to 2-meter amateur FM. I have been licensed since 1972 and on 2m FM since 1976; I've enjoyed every minute of it, although I had to give up my traditional amateur station 15 years ago when I moved to an apartment. However, I am still semi-active on the local 2m repeater and on Echolink (an amateur radio linking application using VoIP--voice over Internet protocol), so I'm still getting some use out of my license, which I recently renewed for another ten years.

73,