With a pre-flying background in broadcast quality comms engineering, my two pence worth:
Please
everybody use a windshield on your microphone. If you don't, the receive station hears a breathy/scratchy sound accompanying your speech, along with the 'plosive'sounds: 'B' 'P' etc, which distort your transmissions and makes them less intelligible to the receiver. This will mean you have to repeat yourself more often.
If you don't use a windshield, the microphone will gradually fill up with spit and dust etc which will cause it to reduce and distort the electrical output.
A noise cancelling microphone needs to be close to and directly in front of the mouth to work properly - so that if you pursed your lips, they would touch the windshield. Even if the microphone is a only couple of inches away from the mouth, or below the mouth, the person receiving your transmission will hear mostly background noise - "say again?". Feel the microphone through the windshield to make sure it is facing your mouth and has not twisted to be edge on.
Speak normally but key the PTT a split second before speaking. The transmitter will not transmit instantly you key the switch, but takes a moment to check the transmit circuits and frequency are stable and correct before passing your speech. Unless you wait a split second your first word(s) will be clipped off: "station calling?".
I often get a hard time for saying these things, but it would improve the clarity of comms a lot if we could all follow these easy and simple steps.
