(1) Full-time link: repeaters are all linked together.
(2) The 145.265 and 448.8 share the same phone line for their autopatches.
CTCSS Tones (Continuous Tone-Coded Squelch System)
CTCSS is a standard radio squelch technique that uses a
subaudible tone on the transmitted signal to control the opening &
closing of the receiver squelch. A repeater that doesn't use CTCSS will
relay all received signals. A repeater using CTCSS will relay only
those signals which have the subaudible tone present.
All repeaters REQUIRE CTCSS AT ALL TIMES.
That means you must enable the 100Hz (or 123Hz) CTCSS tone on your
transmitter, otherwise the repeater will not relay your signal.
*CTCSS is synonymous with PL (Private Line), which is a Motorola
copyrighted term for CTCSS.
All of the PPFMA voice repeaters send out a 100Hz CTCSS tone on their
outputs.
If you have CTCSS squelch available on your transceiver, you may want to
enable this feature. This will cause your receiver to remain quiet until it
hears the repeater output with the 100 Hz subaudible tone. With your
receive CTCSS enabled, your receiver will ignore noise bursts and intermod
products that are often heard in modern transceivers. If you don't have
this capability; don't worry ... it's not required to listen to the repeaters.