UncleStains

The chevrons mean that your radar is detecting a jamming signal. In this case, the radar can't resolve a distance, so you get chevrons at the top of the screen on the detected azimuth. Sometimes you'll see the chevrons on top of a radar contact, indicating that your radar was able to burn through the jamming and resolve range to target. I hope that translates!

I recall learning this and thinking it was impossible and I had made a huge mistake getting involved in cartoon helicopters. Here's what I did....think about it as a series of steps. As you practice the steps get smaller and it becomes a smooth curve. Practice with cruise symbology up so it's easier to reference pitch angle. I'd also recommend taking no weapons and full fuel. That's enough weight to steady twitchy movements without getting close to your out of ground effect hover limits.
To slow down, first pitch back to about +5 degrees. This makes your nose go up and you start gaining altitude. Counter that by lowering the collective. Hold that +5 degree attitude with the cyclic and use the collective to get your vertical speed back to zero. Once you're stable there, pitch back a little more to +7.5 degrees. Counter your now-increasing altitude with another reduction in collective.
Now it gets tricky. As your airspeed approaches the translational lift limit your vertical speed will start going negative. Now start pulling the collective back up to counter this sinking. Keep managing vertical speed with the collective while you use the cyclic to nose down back to +5 degrees. This +5 degrees is the Apache's hover attitude (it happens to be exactly the same as the Apache's attitude when sitting on the ground). Eventually you'll be sitting at zero airspeed and zero vertical speed.
Now while all of this is happening, you need to balance your collective movements with pedal movements. Pull the collective, left pedal....lower the collective...right pedal. Eventually it becomes automatic and you'll find yourself moving your feet in anticipation of those collective movements.
It's not easy, but with practice it's definitely possible. As virtual pilots, we don't get the feedback of feeling the horizontal and vertical acceleration. This means you really have to stay ahead and anticipate what each control movement is going to do to your attitude/altitude/heading/speed and make the necessary adjustments to the other controls to compensate.