Nobody is going to fool with lowering deadkey on a handheld. I have seen once on youtube a Midland that been peaked for closer to 100% mod. BTW 75-822 is a hot radio for a handheld, should key between 3 and 4 watts, peak around 10-12 watts, but will vary from radio to radio, which is still over 75% modulation, which is alot for a handheld. Supposedly bells CB can peak them out, like in this video
Midland 75-822 Modified - YouTube, showing 4.2w on the meter swing to 18, but I am a bit skeptical of the accuracy of his meters.
Personally, I wouldn't f*** it up trying to drop the deadkey to run a cheap amp, hell I wouldn't own an amp you coulnt drive with 4 watts carrier. Its a neat little radio, easy to modify, can do from 26.525-28.305 and A channels.
It might can even do FM if some of the guts were rewired, mine looked like it had "almost" the same chip as the Alan 42 from europe.
If you want to drive an amp with a lower carrier power, get something like a cobra 19,25 or 29, uniden 66 or 78, or similar, tons of information available online to change the output of the radio. If youd like, I got a Unden pc68 and cobra 25wx I trade for that handheld.