Actually Troy I'd disagree on these points - driving to Baltimore county, I had to put the attenuator on the system and use a smaller antenna to get readable copy on the South zone. I worked in the Woodlawn area for almost 8 years, so I knew the differences between the old and new P25 system.
I can say without hesitation that without these little 'adjustments' I could not copy the county at all - and this was using a 396T with updated firmware.
Like I said earlier, each situation is different - so one solution may not work for someone else. But generally speaking, adding attenuation and/or a shorter (non gain) antenna are 2 steps in the right direction. There might well be others for each situation that would work better.
Mike