Uniden pro 510x Static

Rf gain shouldn't hinder reception if turned down to the threshold of noise.
On the other hand, squelch will.

 

Sounds to me like splitting hairs. So I don't need squelch. OK?

But the funny thing is, all modern radios seem to have squelch, but some don't have RF gain.

 

Squelch is for the guy who's trying to sleep while he's backed into a loading dock and doesn't want to listen to anybody more than 20 feet away but he needs to listen to the guy on the loading dock telling him it's okay to pull his truck out of the door at which point he will wake up and move his truck.

 

That's what I'd do: use what you got until it breaks.

I was making my point to encourage you to do that. Although they're not expensive radios, I hate to see good equipment ditched in a quest for a feature that I bet you you'll find is no real improvement.

 

And that’s all it’s good for.

A Uniden 980 with a Uniden BC20 Speaker will open your ears. Given (everyone’s problem) a decent antenna. Amazon or EBay. Don’t open it up. Use it box stock.

The receive is more sensitive, and you’ll see why guys go to some trouble. What you have is cheap for a reason. The next step isn’t expensive either.

No one said you had to ditch the current one. Most of us have several radios. Work truck, personal vehicle and home are obvious. So is setting up a friend.

Good luck

 

A President radio might be good for your second radio. They have ASC (Automatic Squelch Control).
Group President Electronics USA

It does tend cut stations with a low signal but it does a fair job. If you really only need to hear whats close it works really well. Don't need to readjust anything when you get close to powerlines, lights, or other noisy stuff.