What's the difference between the normal and S-meter squelch in IC-2730?

Question

I recently obtained an IC-2730E and can't figure out the difference between its squelch options. Unfortunately, the user manual isn't very helpful. The squelch option had 3 types: off, attenuation and S-meter.

From what I could gather, the attenuator is just the normal squelch with an attenuator added in the signal path.

On the other hand, I'm not really sure what's the difference between the S-meter squelch and the "off" squelch. In practice, they both seem to be doing the same thing, except that the S-meter squelch will show S-levels to which it is set to.

Answer 1

https://www.gpscentral.ca/manuals/Icom_IC-R8600_ENG_Manual.pdf

Page 21 explains the difference between regular squelch and s-meter squelch on any Icom radio.

Noise squelch

The Noise Squelch allows the audio to be heard only while receiving a signal that includes less noise than a set level.

• Activates when the squelch level is set to between 30% and 50% in the FM, AM, S-AM or DIGITAL mode.

• A higher level blocks weak signals. A lower level allows you to hear weak signals including noise.

...

S-meter squelch

The S-meter Squelch mutes the speaker sounds when the signal strength is less than the set value.

• Activates when the squelch level is set to between 50% and 100% in any mode.

Answer 2

Can't speak from experience with this radio, but I looked at the manual and it says about the option that:

Squelch/ATT select      FUNC — SQLTYP
Sets to use the S-Meter Squelch or the Attenuator function for the [SQL] control.

The way I would read this is that it does not change the squelch behavior but controls whether the knob changes the squelch level or changes the attenuation.

The manual later says:

When you rotate [SQL]S clockwise beyond the center position, [SQL]S becomes an ‘S-meter Squelch’ or ‘Attenuator.’ Select the [SQL]S option in the MENU mode. (p. 14)

I read this as the menu option affects the behavior of the upper range of the SQL knob, and the lower range is always “regular” squelch.

It's not at all clear to me what “S-meter squelch” as opposed to regular squelch means, however, but it's clear (from the use of the upper range of the SQL knob) that in either case these are functions for dealing with very strong signals. That is when you would want an attenuator: when the incoming signal is too strong for the receiver to function correctly.

One possible explanation is that in the attenuator mode it doesn't increase the squelch level higher but adds attenuation (presumably before the squelch's sensor), but in the S-meter squelch mode it just increases squelch further. But it's really unclear and I'd suggest conducting some experiments with a nearby friend to see how it behaves in the two cases with a strong signal.