Hi,
I'm the guy who had the PSR with the original poster, during this test today... so basically we did everything you suggested here. Throughout the tests below, he toggled data skip, attenuation and so forth.
Test 1
I had the rubber duck my psr came with - he was using the 396 with an external antenna, plus he was using a JIM0-75 (pre-amp)... keep in mind we are in a car... so performance for me should be much worse. During this time, I got about 5-8 hits in about 20 min. He got none. He tried adjusting the gain on the Jim (lower, to higher) with results he was familiar with. Again, no hits on his system, and continued hits on my PSR. I can tell you that I was getting hits well over a mile - as we were driving around lankershim blvd in LA, and I was getting the mobile handhelds of security at Universal Studios.
Test 2
This time he removes the JIM-75 preamp and goes straight to the external antenna. No change.
Test 3
He puts on my rubber duck, and I actually hook up to his outside antenna... this is where it gets interesting. The PSR SS is slower now. It's taking a bit more time to analyze all the signals... it gets now about 5x more hits. His Uniden... none.
Test 4
He tries a Diamond antenna and I move back to the rubber duck - no change. I get the hits, he doesn't.
With my Kenwood TH-F6a I would send a legal transmission on a Ham band and he could pick it up if i was sitting right next to him in the car. However if we were separated by about 400 ft. in our building, he gets nothing, even if I'm broadcasting at full power, while he has a diamond antenna... or a diamond antenna with a JIM-75 set up.
He has gotten hits. I dont think his scanner is defective. I think his complaint is mainly that it's not as sensitive for getting new frequencies in a 1 mile range of coverage or so. Where he might get 1 hit, I might get 20 or more uniques.
Again, you might get a hit from 500m or so, but how strong is the signal? what if you're hunting for weak signals?
This isn't really a 396 vs PSR. The 396 has wonderful features - it's just my friend is very interested in this proximity scanning technology, and he's not happy with what he has and making a point about it. It's valid, as it may help others who might be very interested in that technology and want to know which way to go on the scanner fence.
If i was looking for best memory management, I'd go 396. I went with the PSR for all the sensitivity tests I saw run on it, as I live out in the boondocks.
Before you go assuming the radio isn't functioning like another one, you should be sure it's not your fault. ie. Attenuator on or off? Data Skip on or off? Same/Different Antenna? Broadcast screen? Are some bands turned off or on? Though I have never side by side compared the Uniden CC to a Gre model, I am very pleased with it's performance. I get hits anywhere from 300 to 500 Metres away. Not looking for a reply, just giving you some suggestions...