Karen Lewis

I had the exact same problem with my first Baofeng! Many newcomers fail to program the CTCSS tone properly. Check if your radio is set to "T" (tone encode) rather than "TSQ" (tone squelch). Also verify the offset direction is correct.

so ive been at this for about 3 months now and im really trying to get my CW up to a usable speed but something just feels off with my sending. im using an old Bencher BY-1 paddle that i picked up at a hamfest and a Winkeyer USB and honestly i thought that combo would be good but every time i listen back to recordings of myself i sound like im sending mush. the dits and dahs dont have that crisp clean sound i hear from the good operators on 40m.
ive been messing with the weight and ratio settings in the Winkeyer software and i think maybe i made it worse actually. not sure if its the paddle tension or my technique or what. my elmer told me to just slow down and really nail each character before i try to go faster but at 10 wpm i feel like im dragging and it tempts me to speed up before im ready
anyone been through this? is there a good starting point for the keyer settings or is this just a practice problem i need to grind through

had something similar on an older 746 pro, turned out to be a cold solder joint on one of the driver stage connectors that only opened up when the board expanded. not saying thats your problem but worth doing a close visual inspection with a loupe under good lighting before assuming its the finals themselves. i reflowed a couple joints that looked fine to the naked eye and it cleared right up. digital modes push the duty cycle way harder so any marginal connection is gonna show up there first.

so ive had my 857 for about 4 years now and its been rock solid but ive been reading about a few mods people do and im not sure which ones are actually worth the hassle vs which ones are just internet rabbit holes that dont really change anything in practice
the ones im looking at are the collins filter swap for SSB, the TX mod to open up the extended coverage (already done that one actually, pretty straightforward), and i saw something on eham about a noise blanker mod but the thread was like 10 years old so who knows if its still relevant
mostly concerned about the receive side since thats where the 857 kinda falls short compared to my old IC-706. the front end just feels a little deaf on 40m especially when theres QRM from the broadcast band. anybody been down this road with this radio?

so i've been checking into our local 2m net for a few months now and last week i missed the formal check-in window because i got home late from work. the net was still going on when i tuned in, people were still having roundtable conversations and stuff, and i wasnt sure if it was okay to just key up and say hey i missed check-in can i still join or if that would be like interrupting the whole flow and annoying the net control.
i ended up just listening which was fine but i kinda wanted to participate. is there a standard way to handle this? i know different nets do things differently but just curious what you all do. i dont want to be that guy who doesnt know the unwritten rules lol

Welcome to the hobby! For power, start simple - get a couple extra battery packs for your UV-5R and consider a small solar panel later. The stock antenna will work fine for local repeaters, but a Diamond SRH771 makes a noticeable difference and only costs about $20. Most important thing is to test everything together before you need it!