Sr447hpc how do I set it up

Not talkin bout my radio here. But...
The dial'a'watt pot should be set at 1watt low-10-12watts on high. Ive seen them as much as 20watts on high, which leaves no headroom for modulation, and creates extra heat at the finals.
Not knowing anything about the OP's radio, as in who may have 'tweaked'it.. I was giving him an idea of where to set the power level for safe and optimal operation. To set the power level wide right, without knowing the actual output, is just askin for trouble imo. The rf power meters on these radios are fairly accurate when setting the deadkey.

 

If you hear lots of static with your squelch knob turned all the way to the left your technician did not do a very good job of tuning the receive.
If anything you could turn the Rf gain knob down to the threshold of noise that you hear and you should still be able to hear weak signals out in the distance but you will never hear distant signals if you use your squelch knob.

 

All my radios are idiot proof but you are correct that not everybody makes the radios idiot proof

 

All mine with variable power are set this way: all the way to the left = about 2 watts for use w/amp; 12 o'clock = normal operating position w/o an amp; all the way to the right - only intended for short, limited transmissions (never really go there....kind of like your car, you hardly ever drive it as fast as it will go, but you don't have it fixed where it will only do the speed limit either.)

 

All mine are matched to amps and the Rf power knob controls the output of the amp. The output Level at the bottom side of the adjustment has been raised to meet the minimum requirements of the amp and the output level at the top side of the adjustment has been reduced to meet the maximum requirements of the amplifier rendering the radio idiot proof.