If the `870 has a monitor function,I would use that to hear your audio. Of course it will be somewhat different from the actual on air sound,it should still help. I use compression with the eq also. You could start by trying the default setings for those which should be in the manual. If your voice is very baritone you`d probably want higher eq settings to bring out the midrange or treble. A higher voice would be just the opposite,with lower bass type settings.

I wouldn`t use the ht in your car,but other than that I wouldn`t worry. Really almost all ham rigs these days can scan bands,be it ham or public service with an ht. You`re a licensed ham using a rig on the ham bands,nothing illegal with that.

There is nothing illegal about telling someone over the air the brand of radio or equipment you`re using. That is not advertizing. Unless you make a living by selling radio equipment,not just selling a radio or equipment over the air. You show me where in part 97 it is illegal to say what brand of radio you`re using.

The last I heard the `897 offered a TCXO as standard,not optional as on the `857.  Unless you operate mostly digital modes,you may never need the high stability it offers.

Maybe if you could locate the noise yourself with the am receiver,then call public service and meet them there. Hopefully they would do that.

My advice is to get a receiver that has a provision for an external antenna,don`t rely on a built in one. My ht receives the hf bands lousy with the built in ferrite bar antenna. However,if I connect just a few feet of wire to the sma connector it hears really well, Even on the low bands. It doesn`t need to be an 80m dipole,just 5-10 feet of wire.

I would agree with many who have said that casual operating has declined from what it once was. During the 80`s the novice 40m portion was very active. I`ve found that portion is good around sundown and early evening. 7050 is a good place to tune around,as is 3550. I`d have to say 40 is better for late night/early morning as 80 can be quiet real late. There is of course dx on 80,and sometimes the noise level gets better later at night,like after 12am here in NJ. 30m can vary,but usually plenty of activity. 40 daytime is very good for ssb/cw.

I think it`s neat Alinco`s latest hf rig has a qrp feature to go below 5 watts. Wish we could see more of that on hf rigs,not just dedicated qrp rigs. What`s embarassing is when a qrp station answers me and his 5 watts sounds better than my 100 watts!  Usually that`s a base station with a monster antenna. I really must give credit to those that can do that. Some time ago I had worked a station in VT who was running 50 milliwatts on 80 cw!  Ok,it wasn`t exactly dx,but he was putting out a very respectable signal. On noisy 80m! It makes me want to built an attenuator and see what I could do with that power level. I don`t know what the current power level record is,but years ago I know two stations on 10m set a record using 56 microwatts! Of course that`s pushing it. I think the qso was from TX to CA. You`d also need an accurate wattmeter. I`ve done 100 milliwatts to Europe with my 3 ele yagi on 20m. Two stations heard me with dipoles. It`s fun to experiment with qrp or QRPp.

A week or two ago I was listening to the noise on both 160 and 80m. It was horrible,about s9. I went up to 40m and couldn`t believe the difference. Just some slight static crash on 40,not bad at all. Sometimes 80 isn`t that bad. I`m just thankful it`s not real noisy 24/7.

I was on 30m early this morning around 0600 utc,when I heard two Spanish speaking stations talking to each other. Are there any countries that allow ssb on this band or are they freebanders?

You could look on E-bay for a dead/parts radio. The display would probably still work. I wouldn`t pay much for it though. At least there are some good things about that website.

I think this is similiar to why you don`t start a generator with a load on it.