Here's a site that has conventional frequencies along with trunking
frequencies
http://www.cityfreq.com:81/

And this site will have a lot of information
http://www.strongsignals.net/index.cgi
Place the scanner and it's antenna in front of a window or get an out side
antenna.
Keep the antenna installed out side away from the house.

A really easy antenna
you can build your self is a dipole antenna made out of a twenty
(20) foot or longer length of Co-Ax cable. Install a plug on one end to
go into the scanner radio. Then on the other end, strip back twenty inches
of the outer Co-Ax shielding
and let this shielding hang down. Take the inner conductor and hang this
twenty inch long
center conductor up, out side the house again away from the siding.
Jim

hallis wrote:

I just bought an old Uniden Bearcat BC140 10 channel programmable
scanner at a garage sale. I know almost nothing about scanners. I
bought a telescoping antenna at Radio Shack that seemed to fit into
the antenna outlet on the scanner. I found an AC adaptor that works. I
programmed some local police frequencies in that I got about 6 years
ago. When the scanner is scanning through the stations, it stops on a
couple of the channels, and there is noise (not squelch noise), but I
can't hear any talking and I'm trying to figure out the problem.

Do police frequencies change regularly so that my old frequencies are
no longer right?

I live in a rural area and the police departments that are programmed
in are about 15-30 miles away. Am I too far away from those towns? I
also live in a house covered with metal siding and roofing.

Thank you for any help you folks can provide!