I also have both 396,PRO96,2096, here in ILL the new Starcom is received very well on both...I guess its your area and signal as i get no machine-gunning or decoding error hardly at all on either...The RS models are loud and clearer and need no adjusting like the 396 but i have ordered a GRE500 cause the present GRE/RS models will not trunk some towers that are 700mgz....