The Salt Spring Island Amateur Radio Society (SSARS) operates the VE7RGP repeater on 444.550 MHz. It has a + offset and uses a tone of 103.5 Hz. You should set your radio for tone encode and decode. After something like 25+ years, it was upgraded to a Yaesu DR-1X repeater on October 30, 2015, and then replaced by a DR-2X on December 4 2018. It will respond to FM or digital C4FM. As of April 12 2021, we have also had a WIRES-X node on VE7RGP. For distant nodes to connect to us, they would connect to VE7RGP-ND 72058 or to VE7RGP-ROOM 82058. A room is like a conference call that many nodes can connect to. They are ideal for nets or just for general discussions.
Being located at about 700 metres (2300 feet) above sea level on Bruce Peak, it has a fairly large footprint.
As is standard on all repeaters, there is a time out timer. The TOT is set for three minutes. To prevent the repeater from timing out, try to keep your transmissions short. The TOT will reset when you unkey, but It is good practice to let the repeater drop between transmissions. This will make it easier for anyone with emergency traffic or otherwise to access the repeater. As on directed nets, it is best to just give your callsign to break in. Saying such things as station, contact, or break don't convey any meaningful information. If you have BCL (busy channel lockout) it would be a good idea to enable it, especially if you can do it on a per-channel basis. This will help prevent FM stations from doubling with digital stations. As with any mode of voice communication, it is a good idea to leave a gap of a few seconds in case another station needs to break in.
VE7RGP was first put on the air by the Rogers Cable Amateur Radio Club. That group no longer exists. The repeater was graciously donated to the Salt Spring Island Amateur Radio Club in October of 2014 by Alphonse Quenneville, VE7HAQ. Alphonse was the "last man standing" from the Rogers group. Cor Maas VE7BBG (SK) maintained VE7RGP as well as VE7RSI for a number of years. Sadly, Cor passed away shortly after his retirement in 2011. Cor was a great guy. Many people will also remember him from pioneer work with EME.