Nicole Martin

yeah what he said about the sidebands is the big thing people dont realize at first. i actually had someone point out to me early on that when you set your dial to say 7.299 on USB the actual audio frequencies in your voice are going out above that. took me a while to really internalize it. the dial frequency is just the carrier, the signal is wider than that.
also worth knowing that 40m phone allocation in the US starts at 7.175 for generals so dont forget about that lower edge either. theres quite a bit of room between 7.175 and 7.297ish for phone, you dont need to be crowding the top end anyway honestly

yeah what he said, also watch out near the band edges in general. like 7.300 is the top of the US allocation and if your voice or sideband signal bleeds over that you can get in trouble even if your dial shows 7.300 because the actual signal occupies some bandwidth. most people say stay at least 3khz inside the edge to be safe so like 7.297 or lower for SSB. i learned that one the hard way when someone pointed it out to me lol

the UV-5R menus are a nightmare honestly, i spent way too long on mine before i just downloaded CHIRP and programmed it from my laptop. way easier, you can see everything laid out and set the CTCSS tone without digging through 30 menus. just a thought if youre still fighting with it
also about the etiquette thing — totally fine to key up and say your call, thats literally how people find out youre there. some repeaters have nets on certain nights too so worth checking if the club has a schedule, easier to jump in when theres already a conversation going

check your mic gain first - 50% might be too hot depending on how loud you talk. try backing it down to maybe 30-35% and see if that helps. also make sure youre not sitting too close to the mic, should be about 2-3 inches away. the 7300 has decent processing but it can only work with what youre feeding it