Antenna Guy

yeah the actual Part 97 text is rough to read if you're not used to it, totally get that. so techs do get some HF — you get 10m phone above 28.300, which is actually pretty fun during good solar conditions. and there's also CW privileges on a few other bands like 40m and 15m and a couple others but only for morse code, no voice. the 40m phone thing you heard about might have been someone misremembering or maybe talking about General. a lot of people mix that up. the ARRL has a frequency allocation chart that's way easier to read than the FCC document, i'd just look that up, they have a pdf version floating around. main thing techs accidentally do wrong is trying to operate on 20m or 40m phone thinking they have those privileges — they don't, and technically that's operating outside your license class which is a Part 97 violation. not like the FCC is actively hunting people down but it's still worth doing it right especially when you're new and building habits

i was in the same boat not that long ago. the one that tripped me up was QRO, someone told me to go QRO and i thought it was a place lol. it just means increase power, opposite of QRP. also worth knowing QRT which means im shutting down or stop transmitting depending on context. you'll hear that at the end of nets a lot when the net control signs off.

honest answer — at your rate level, SO2R is probably going to hurt more than help for a while. the mental overhead is real. youre essentially running two pile-ups in your head at once and if your SO1R game isnt pretty automatic already, adding a second radio just introduces more ways to make mistakes and miss QSOs on both bands simultaneously.
that said the actual technical setup doesnt have to be as complicated as people make it sound. the biggest thing you need to sort out before anything else is transmitter keying interlocking so you physically cannot key both radios at the same time — that will cause you problems real fast if you skip it. YCCC SO2R box or a homebrew relay setup both work, lots of guys use the cheap two-radio interlocking boards you can find on QRZ classifieds. the 7300 and 590SG are both fine radios for this, no issues there.
for audio i just run each radio into a separate ear of my headphones, left ear one radio right ear the other. takes a few contests to get used to but you stop noticing after a while. N1MM+ has decent SO2R support built in, worth reading their wiki on it before you dive in hardware first.
i'd say run a full contest SO1R first and focus on getting your rate smooth and consistent. once a 100/hr hour feels boring, then start messing with the second radio.

this is really interesting to read as someone whos only been licensed about eight months and just joined our local ARES group. havent done a SET yet, ours is scheduled for the fall. the part about simplex frequencies not being programmed kind of worries me because i honestly dont know if my radio has everything it should. who do i ask about that, just the EC?

the low resonant point is actually pretty normal for an inverted-V versus a flat-top dipole. the legs being angled downward effectively makes the antenna act a bit longer electrically, so you'll usually need to trim some compared to what the formula gives you. 25 feet at center isnt super high either which can affect things.
the 2.8 SWR at resonance is the more interesting part. if the antenna is actually resonant (low reactance) but still showing that SWR number, the feedpoint impedance might just be sitting lower than 50 ohms, which can happen with inverted-V geometry — some people see impedances in the 35-45 ohm range depending on the angle of the legs. thats not a huge deal for most rigs with internal tuners, or you could look at using 75 ohm coax as a matching section. but first I'd double check your connector isnt introducing a short or cold solder joint, ive been burned by that before on a SO-239 build where I thought the solder flowed but it really didnt make contact properly.

so i finally pulled the trigger on doing the TX audio mod that's been floating around on qrz and a few other places — basically adjusting the TX bandwidth by tweaking a couple of the internal settings and also swapping out the stock electret element in my desk mic for a dynamic capsule i had lying around from an old shure. the idea was to get flatter, more broadcast-style audio and cut some of the mid-range honk that the 7300 has stock.
results are... mixed i guess. on-air reports are better in the sense that people say i sound less nasal, which was the goal. but now im getting complaints that im too bassy on SSB and my ALC is behaving weirdly, like it's hitting harder than before on peaks even though my drive level hasn't changed. i think the impedance mismatch between the new capsule and the mic input might be doing something funky. either that or i messed with the TX equalizer settings in the menu and forgot to document what i changed before i started which was really dumb of me.
anyone done similar mods on the 7300 or even the 7100 for that matter? curious if there's a sweet spot for the internal TX EQ settings or if i should just add an external in-line EQ between the mic and the radio. also not sure if the ALC thing is related or totally seperate issue.

first thing id check is whether youre actually making it into the repeater at all — a lot of repeaters will send a courtesy beep or a tail when someone keys up even if nobody is listening. if youre not hearing that when you unkey then your signal probably isnt getting in, could be the offset is wrong or the tone isnt programmed right. baofengs can be a little weird about how they store CTCSS, worth double checking that its set to transmit tone and not just squelch by tone (which would mean you hear the repeater but it wont respond to you).
as for breaking in, what you did sounds totally fine honestly. during a pause between overs is exactly right. sometimes people just dont hear or are mid-thought. try saying something like your callsign and "monitoring" or even just ask if the frequency is in use before a QSO starts. most repeater groups are pretty welcoming especially to new folks.