Using Cross Band Repeat
Dec 1, 2022
As I mentioned last night on the net, I was using cross band repeat to talk from my couch on my Yaesu HT through my 50W Kenwood TM-v71A mobile which is connected to a better antenna elsewhere in the house, I thought I'd share the instructions (specific to my Kenwood TM-v71A) because every time I have set this up in the past I have immediately forgotten how to do it again the next time. Now that I have it set up, its pretty easy to use it again next time.
Basically, the TM-v71A is dual VFO so you set up A to talk to the repeater, and B to some unused frequency (I use 435.700) that you will use on the HT. I have a PL tone set on the B frequency so I don't accidentally squelch and send that to the repeater so the HT has to have that PL set as well for that frequency. You are supposed to identify every 10 minutes so if you are not going to be saying your call sign on air on that B frequency at least that much you can set the TM-v71A to auto identify (in morse) but that will be sent to the repeater I believe, so I leave that option off (its option 406 on the TM-v71A). I set the B frequency to low power (its only gotta get through my house), and set the A frequency to at least medium which I know works well to the repeater.
The trick which I always forget is that to get into "cross band repeat" (CBR) mode on the TM-v71A you have to:
power the radio off, then turn it on with the TONE button pressed.
Once you do, you will be in CBR mode but you will no longer be able to modify anything in the settings! This can be frustrating if you forget you left it in this mode because you can't get out of CBR mode until you re-power it with the TONE button again! There's a little lock icon at lower right on the TM-v71A which is a clue I guess if your eyes are good enough to see that. Now I have memories set for both A and B on the mobile and the HT so I just have to make sure I have each side set to the right memory channel on the mobile and re-power, turn my HT to the B memory and it works!
I found this video by AF5DN very helpful (its 9 years old at this point!) multiple times now!