Another thought. As a new design concept why not have the squelch knob to control the volume and the up dn arrows for squelch control (reverse). Easier and faster to use the knob if you are entering an office building or bank for volume level.
Not going to happen without a hardware change .. the existing models (1080/1088) the knob is hardwired into the squelch circuit.
I 100% agree with you, this would be a nice change for future models.