I am new to ham radios.  I live in Norcross, Georgia.  I haven't been able 
> to 
> communicate with any one yet.  I have a Vertex VX-150.  Do I have to 
> connect to a repeater to converse. If so, what steps do I take to connect to 
> the repeater.  The nearest one to me is Stone Mountain W4BOC 146.760 - 
> 146.160 107.2 .  I intend to join a amateur radio group this month. 



I would recommend tuning your rig to 146.52 FM simplex (no repeater) and 
listen for a little while.  If you don't hear anyone, put out a CQ call 
and see what you get.  That'll put you in touch with some local hams on 
the air who can shepherd you through your first few QSOs.  The advantage 
to this is that you will be communicating on a line-of-sight basis, so 
anyone you talk to either resides locally or is driving through your 
area.  It's a great way to meet fellow amateurs in your local community. 

Repeater operation is only slightly more complex, as each repeater (and 
its owner(s)) have their own way of doing things.  The object lesson is 
to listen on a particular repeater frequency, see how people conduct 
themselves, and when you feel comfortable jump on in.  Instead of 
calling CQ on a repeater channel, you would say, "KI4BSP, monitoring."   
That just tells folks you're there, and interested in a conversation.   
If you don't hear any replies, wait a few minutes and try it again. 


The information you provided about the Stone Mountain W4BOC repeater 
translates thus: 


        146.760 MHz is the output frequency of the repeater. 
        146.160 MHz is the input frequency. 
        107.2 is the CTCSS or "PL" tone used to access the repeater. 


Translated, this means: 


        1) Turn your radio to the 146.76 frequency. 
        2) Set it to use a "minus" offset.  Unless otherwise specified, 
           all 2m repeaters use a 600 kHz offset, up or down depending 
           on the output frequency.  The term offset indicates how far 
           down or up the input frequency is. 
        3) Set it to use a CTCSS tone of 107.2.  This is a sub-audible 
           tone that inserted on your transmit signal.  The repeater 
           will listen for that tone and only allow signals coming 
           in to "open" the repeater up that carry that signal.  The 
           repeater will then retransmit that signal in real-time 
           on the output frequency. 


Forgive me if I elaborated on things you might already know, but judging 
from the original posting it sounded like you were pretty new to the 
idea of operating through a repeater.  Hope it was helpful.