kingfishracin--
I know you are somewhat new here at RR.com but You have multiple threads dealing here and in the
Uniden forum dealing with
your question. That is called
cross posting and is frowned on here at RR.com. Please keep this in mind in the future when you decide to post. Thanks!
My main concern though is that we try to help you above and beyond the guidance you have gotten so far in the Uniden thread.
As others have alluded to in the Uniden thread there are several things you need to consider:
1) Making sure your HP-1 is receiving the closest site. In a few mins I will setup a
Home Patrol Sentinel file configured specifically for Orange County. I will respond back to this thread with a link to the HP Sentinel file. I would ask that you import it into Sentinel and report back on how reception is then.
2) As others have said your antenna could be an issue as well. One of my radio geek motto's is "Antennas make up 60% of your radio reception, The Radio makes up 30%, and the extra 10% is just blind luck". If you are using the stock antenna consider that could be an issue as well.
Let me switch over to WinXP from my linux partition so I can setup that Orange County/Hillsborough Sentinel file for you. Give me a little while to get that squared away.
Marshall KE4ZNR