Quoted:
Made my 1st QSO today on 20m. KB5YQ in Floresville, TX.
1,020 miles on a random wire and 10w.
good job. 100miles/watt for your first contact is something to be proud of.
now you have to get used to balancing the RF gain control for the best receive performance.
too high, lots of white noise. too low, hard to hear the other station.
if you have enough RX signal from the other end, you should dial the RF gain back as much
as possible and the QSO will be just like FM. well, sorta.
keep the DSP NR set at about 5 for now, or try 4 or 6. don't go nuts with it.
on the transmit side, if you know someone who is local, have them listen to your output.
you should sound, more or less, like you. if the mix gain is up too high it will sound like crap.
if the gain is too low, you'll never bust those DX pileups with 10W.
btw, when you are calling CQ you can sometimes hook more fish with "CQ QRP".
also, never ever answer a CQ DX call from a US station. instant lid status...
have fun.
ar-jedi
ps:
btw that's a good lookin' station!