You didn't mention what generation of rower it is (current shipping model?) but nothing you are saying sounds unusual. A few thoughts:
1. It is normal that the tension will build on the pull stroke as the air resistance increases as the fly wheel spools up. It does sound a little late in the stroke to be only in the back half unless your strokes are very short. However, remember "pull hard, recover slow" is a pretty common refrain for rowing so you want a fair amount of effort in the pull stroke.
2. The 9 is the damper setting. Think of it like gears on a bike. It controls the amount of air that will hit the flywheel. You can make it easier per unit of work/ pull by reducing the airflow but that will also reduce your distance per stroke. I prefer a high damper setting myself but I have a high stroke rate to start with so trying to reduce that with more effort per pull works well for me. I believe Concept2 recommends more like 6-7 on average.
3. You can definitely find screenshots for any model concept2 display online. If it is the current shipping model (D or E) they are the same monitors (PM5). Generally speaking, the largest number on the screen in the middle will be your split time (time per 500m) which is a useful reference. A good sprint time for a flat out 500m is probably 1:40-1:50 to start out with. Sustaining 1:50 for 30:00 min is around a world record on the Concept2. You may also find it useful to switch to watts to get a sense of how your wattage compares to what you are used to on an exercise bike. I find 200-220 watts to be about what I'm comfortable with for a cardio workout and that translates to a 2:00 to 1:56 split time.
You should also check how dusty the fan has gotten. My experience with rowers in hotel gyms and other crappy gyms is they accumulate dust and the flywheel starts to have noticeably less bite.
C2forum.com and the concept2 webpages both have a lot of good info. You might also enjoy following someone like Lizzy Carson (Lizzycarson.row) on Instagram who is a pretty successful masters indoor rower and who along with her husband (Carson_EBC) train CrossFit games athletes in rowing.
Lastly, since this is the equipment forum, one out there suggestion you might consider as you get more into rowing is the Slides. They do require a very level floor but they give a very nice different feel to rowing that forces you to be more even and less jerky in the pressure and are supposed to be better for your back and joints by absorbing some of the force you produce. I don't really break mine out often as my garage floor isn't level but they do add whole different dimension. I've yet to transition to real rowing but would like to eventually.
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