Have to agree with KF5RCA, if 'load' means install, then his instructions will get you there.
However, it occurs to me that you might mean it has installed but isn't actually working properly. If thats the case please clarify.
Reason I mention it, I do recall that when I first started using the software I had some problems related to operator error ("me") until I read the directions carefully.
Incidently, I downloaded the software through Synaptic (which I am still using on 12.04LTS) and it went without a hitch.

73 de WB0FDJ

Welcome to the world of QRP.

About 7 years ago I was in the same boat: living in an apartment and wanting to get back on the air. I had decades of QRP experience so bought an FT-817ND to operate portable. I have never once regretted the decision. Once I moved into my present home I actually used the 817 daily for a year as my main rig, running CW, PSK and JT65a. It's got it's warts but as a mini-station-in-a-box it's hard to beat. The rig, the antenna and all the extras fit in a cheap over-the-shoulder bag.

I would recommend that you do some research in two areas: batteries and antennas. I went to the HFPack website (they're the folks that love operating such things as pedestrian and bicycle mobile) 
  http://hfpack.com/antennas/shootoutvertical2002.html   
and looked at their data on antennas: they've done "shootouts" for both vertical and horizontal lightweight/portable antennas. The data is worth a look. Based on their results I decided to buy a Super Antenna MP-1 and an additional 57" base rod (from Hustler). My particular reasons were: I didn't know that I'd always have decent trees around for wire support and this thing C clamps onto a picnic table. First day out I worked Greece at 2.5 W on 17 meters.

The battery issues have to do with the relatively high current needs of the rig. There's plenty written about what works. I have the newest W4RT 2700 mAh battery inside and it's good for several hours of QSOs or better than 4 hrs of listening. The basic 7 aH gel cell seems to be a popular option.

If you've already done QRP you know all the "you'll need more power" doesn't hold water. I hope you enjoy your new rig!

73 de WB0FDJ  Doc

Eric
Hey, just passing by and read of your troubles here.
Something that is not clear from your posts: how are you measuring power output???
A lot of us use outboard SWR/wattmeters. It's nice, in cases like yours, to be able to confirm that you are indeed getting "X" watts output.
Your method of slowly increasing the mic gain, until your signal is captured by PSKreporter is ingenious but begs the question: what is your PO?
Reason I ask, you could have a perfect signal (i.e. not trip the ALC) and be read by PSKreporter and be running only a few watts.
Good luck.

DOC WB0FDJ

Just a note
There was a review in a recent QRP quarterly magazine. Generally the reviewer gave it good marks.
The pluses seemed to be low power/current use with 80 mA on receive and 800 on transmit and the filtering.
For what it's worth....

Doc WB0FDJ

I'd have to agree with WB3WIK, mostly. But......

But if you held a gun to my head and told me to throw one of my rigs out the window of my second floor ham shack,
I'd pick my FT-817ND. I think it would survive pretty well. Second choice would be it's bigger brother, the FT-897D.
After that I'd need some pretty big boxes to collect the parts.......

WB0FDJ Doc

Walter
Welcome to JT65. I started using this mode a couple of years ago because I am a QRPer and its one mode that really maximizes the possibility of contacts with low power.
First night I tried JT65 I worked asiatic Russia and KH6 at 5 watts. For a QRP op this is heaven! 98% of my contacts have been made at this power level and I've worked every continent. It's not hard to hit stateside stations with 1-2 watts and for fun I've made several contacts running in the 700 milliwatt range. No gain antennas, just a Gap Challenger, pretty tame. If you hang in the 10-20 watt range you'll have no problems making plent of contacts.
Resist the temptation to think that "more is better" with power. I use the WSJT suite on my linux box and have found that the software seriously hiccups (as it's developer warns) with really strong stations in the passband. Theres been discussion on some of the groups about how it's getting more common to see guys send the last transmission "50W VRT 73".
Good luck and 73 WB0FDJ Doc

Hey, welcome to the world of QRP.

Several years ago I lived in an apartment and my only recourse was to buy a FT817 and go to the local park for my hamming. That was a hoot! First day out I had a couple of fairly long ragchews with stateside hams, then the last contact (from MN) was Greece and he gave me a decent report. When I moved into my home the old '817 was my only rig for almost a year. It's still in the shack, with the W4RT battery pack charged, for back up.

Anyway hang in there with it. Check out some of the QRP clubs, like QRP ARCI, which sponsors some nice on the air events and puts out a decent publication. Don't be afraid to try some different modes. I've known guys to take their netbooks out with them, portable, to do PSK and JT65.

72 de WB0FDJ Doc.

Just a clarifying point. This information comes from Daves website:

"Effective 28 March 2012, I have halted sales of the popular SW+ series.  It will be undergoing a ‘facelift’ for improved ease of construction and alignment."

So apparently the good news is that this series will return at some time. Having built two of these I can't imagine how he can make them better or "easier" but I'm looking forward to the next iteration.

72 de WB0FDJ Doc

Jim
Hey thanks for this info. I have found that there's times when a band might seem dead for me and the guys on the east coast are talking about how much DX they are working. In this case though I think we were all in the same boat.
73 Doc

Just wondering what the experience of other QRPers was for the event this weekend.
Here in the upper midwest (and probably elsewhere) 10 was dead, 15 wasn't doing much, (I heard only 2 or 3 stations) and even on 20 it seems to me that I didn't hear the usual amount of contest traffic. I did make a few Q's on 80 and considering my Gap Challenger is not exactly hot on that band I was surprised.
This a.m. I worked a couple of qrp stations, didn't hear much else, then went down to 14.050 and found a lot of SKCC traffic for the sprint so made some contacts there.
Maybe I'm remembering the good ole days (yes, I'm near that age) of cycle 22.....or was it 23.....

72 de WB0FDJ Doc

Thank you for sharing this. Funny how we don't really forget the code.

When I was kid in junior high I was tuning around on an elderly console radio we had in the house that had "shortwave". I ran across some CW. My uncle (who raised me) walked into the room, listened, then whipped out a pen and started copying on the back on some old envelope. I remember looking at him as if he had suddenly grown horns and flew away. He matter of factly informed me that he had qualified as a high speed CW operator before shipping out in WWII. Hadn't copied a letter in, what, 22 years and he just wanted to see if he could still do it! I still remember asking him, "Ok, how do I learn this stuff?" Now 47 yrs later I'm the one copying on the back of envelopes.

DOC WB0FDJ 73

The ARRL antenna handbook and some websites will list the loss of various coax cables and you really should find your cable and check it out.
This is especially a good thing to look at when running higher frequencies. If you ever try to match a high SWR antenna through say a hundred feet of poor coax you'll quickly find that the loss is pretty miserable at 10 or 6 meters where QRP can be a lot of fun, if any of it gets to the antenna. 

FWIW
When I moved into my present home, it was early November and I'm in MN. Had no time at all to put a real antenna. The "book" say anything outdoors is a good idea so I ran a 33' length of wire out the window and into a nearby tree. All I had was my 817 at the time so I used a tuner and a 4:1 balun that came as a gift with the tuner. Actually made a lot of contacts and it kept me in radio and had fun. I also experimented with an indoor slinky, that was pretty much a dud but, ironically, the next summer I tuned it to 6 meters and made my first 50 mHz contacts during band openings.
Since then the wire has been retired. I've made quite a few contacts using a magnetic loop (mine happens to be the MFJ 1786 but there are other options), again using the 817, my SWR-20 and other qrp rigs. Between 14-30 mHz a 3' diameter loop is reasonably efficient and I've worked both coasts with as little as 3 watts.
Hang in there man. Experiment. You might be surprised at what you can do! Good luck.
WB0FDJ Doc
 

Agree. I built two, for 20 and 40 meters. I'm not "the Charlie Daniels" of a soldering iron but the directions are so straightforward that both of mine worked right away. I run them off of a small 1800 mAh battery with an external portable keyer that I use in my other QRP rigs. For the money they are hard to beat and have very competent receivers.

72 de WB0FDJ

I hang out on the Yahoo Rockmite group. One of the members there recently modified a Rockmite board to 10 meters and published a list of components that are required along with an updated schematic. This week I am starting the build, I have a 20 meter Rockmite kit still in the plastic package and will be putting it on 10. With ten coming alive I think it will be a fun project.
Good luck
Doc WB0FDJ