Linda,

Regarding your Wouxun HT, I just bought one myself, and can give you a
few pointers.

First, the transmit power level does not impact your reception.  It is
only for transmit.  Don't worry about whether this setting is correct
until you have your reception problem licked.

Now, for your reception issues.  Speaking from my own experience with
the Wouxun, reception from a very long way away should be possible
with that radio.  You are likely to be able to hear traffic on
repeaters that you will have absolutely no hope of ever transmitting
to with the 5W power available to you.  I am located in Atlanta, and
can hear repeater traffic on repeaters far up in north GA, say,
perhaps up to 100 miles away, depending on conditions.  So if you are
not able to hear a repeater in your own backyard, then it's time to do
some troubleshooting.

As mentioned, your building may be a major hindrance to reception.  I
know mine is for certain repeaters.  That is the great thing about an
HT, you can just take it with you!  So, take it outside and try it out
in lots of different places to see if it works.

The other thing I have found with my Wouxun is that consumer
electronics in my home cause major, major interference.  For example,
my plasma TV and dishwasher cause enough interference that all I can
do is eat static on a repeater that is less than five miles from my
house.  Once all of the electronics in the house are shut off, I can
hear everything.  In the case of the TV, the interference comes across
as a constant, popping static, even with the squelch turned up to max.
 With the dishwasher, the interference is a high-pitched humming noise
that changes with the cycle of the dishwasher.

So what can you do about these issues?  Well, if you're stuck using
the rubber duck that comes with the HT, the only thing you can do is
to go outside and operate somewhere far from the interference.  But
you can always try setting up an external antenna somewhere else in
the house, or even outside.  The Wouxun uses a female SMA connector,
so you may have to get a female-to-female SMA connector to do some
gender bending before you could use a mag mount or other antenna.
That connector ought to be maybe $6 or so, and you can probably get a
mag mount dual band antenna for 2 m/70 cm for maybe $15.

Of course, you can try to address any interference issues on the
guilty consumer product, but I haven't had too much luck with that.
It is far easier to just get your antenna away from the interference.

Once your reception issues are handled, you can see about
transmitting, as that is a whole different can of worms.  It still
shouldn't be too hard to get things straightened out, so don't
despair.  But, as they say, you can't work 'em if you can't hear 'em,
so your number one priority is to figure out why you aren't hearing
anything.

Good luck!

73,

David Thurmond, AK4RD