The Relationship Between Squelch and RF Gain

And that person close by should also be turning down his/her dynamic. I've had folks say hey how bout turning that dynamic down your blowing me out of the cab when were this close together.
Powerful radios will do that. I've seen folks flinch in their seat and reach for the volume when I come on the air close by. LOL!

 

I know you right driver! Some things take some getting use to!

 

And I’ll still cut them duck lips smooth off with a Kraco handheld and a coat hanger for an antenna.

 

I tinkered around with RF and Squelch this morning on my Stryker 955.
I can turn my squelch to full noisy where I can normally hear folks the farthest out and back off RF from 100% full until it just barely hisses. I'm not sure but I think I get a little bit more reception with it set like that. Not to mention a quieter radio.

My 2ft Firestick has got to go though.
You know what they say reduce the antenna by half and it takes double the power.

 

This is how I use my radio. Nice and quiet mostly, but when someone talks, I hear every syllable instead of the squelch cutting off some.

 

I seem to be getting more range out of my setup with the squelch full noisy first. Then turn down the RF until I have just barely a hiss. I don't have a lot of volume like this as I drive out of range of a conversation without cranking up the RF Gain though especially if the other person has a bare min radio and may not have their dynamic turned up.

 

My choice is to leave the RF adjustment fully powered and use the squelch to find the "edge" that takes out the background noise. I like a quiet radio until it's actually receiving messages, and for me this is the best way to achieve it. If I begin to hear voices "clipped" off in mid-syllables, I turn the squelch knob to see if I'm really interested in the conversation; usually I'm not, so I turn the squelch a little farther to eliminate the conversation.

 

That's what I've always done with Cobras and to catch a little bit more of a fading conversation I crank the squelch to full noisy until they fade out completely.

Thanks to this thread I'm getting better results with the squelch full noisy and backing the RF gain off until the radio barely makes a hiss on my Stryker955. I can actually live with this but still want a little more.

I still need to get my new Helical Antenna mounted and ditch my 2ft Firestick.
The Firestick is nice and adjustable and not so easy to knock off but too short.

With RF at 100% and squelch tuned just inside the quite zone. I get about 1/8 mile receive which is unacceptable. Like that I'll think someones quit talking and there still steady talking but I'm not getting any of it unless I turn the squelch noisy.

With squelch full noisy and backing off RF gain for quietness I was talking 1.5 miles with a fellow dump trucker yesterday. I measured the distance on the map as the crow flies.

 

I really can't see how one approach or the other can make such a 1/8 mile vs 1.5 mile difference in reception, unless the adjustments aren't being equally / effectively utilized.

Anyway, I wonder how many angels will fit on the head of a pin?