Radio not working properly

I can suggest some resources that you can use to find the frequencies you're looking for.
One option is to check the website of the Chippewa County Sheriff's Office or the local government website for information on radio frequencies used by their departments. Another option is to visit the website of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and use their online database to search for radio frequencies assigned to Chippewa County.
You can also try searching for online forums or groups of radio enthusiasts or scanner hobbyists that may have information on frequencies used in the Chippewa County area.
It's important to note that you may need a license or permission to use certain frequencies, and it's always a good idea to check local regulations and guidelines before using any radio equipment.

The police and or fire department may have gone digital. an analog scanner will not pick that up. Often departments will switch their frequencies so the "bad guys" cannot listen in. They forget many of us "good guys" listen and can aid them.
Does the squelch make noise if you turn it all the way to open? Then you know the scanner is working.

Try disconnecting the negative ground (-) cable from the battery. That will disconnect power to everything including your radio. It might reset it self when you restore power by reconnect the negative ground cable to the battery.

sounds like a noise filtering issue, could be caused by the alternator. if it works fine with the engine off then the problem is going to be the alternator. It can also be a bad earth on the radio/antenna

I assume it is digital tuning?
If it is digital tuning the answer is no.
Sometimes reception is better when you purposely mis-tune by one digit lower or higher than the stations call numbers.
If it is under warranty, try exchanging it or just listen to and compare another one or more of the same model to hear if they are all slightly off frequency.

Law enforcement agencies employ a number of high-level encryption systems, including DES, to prevent eavesdropping on their radio communications. In addition, some EDACS trunking systems have a ProVoice option that encrypts communications to and from specific users. Sorry, but you will NOT "overcome" these encryption systems. Keys for the systems are updated regularly, so even if you "found" a radio from the system you would not be able to listen in for more than a day or so.

Bill B

A couple of things could be involved in your problem. You need to be listening to the frequencies that are being used in your area, but most of them will not be transmitting all of the time. Something you can try is if you live maybe about 10-20 miles from an airport and your scanner picks up aircraft frequencies you can look up the airport and find the automated beacon frequency and tune that in. The automated beacon should be transmitting 24/7 the weather conditions of the airport.

Another thing to check is weather you have the correct antenna attached to your scanner and that it is connected properly, the circuits in your scanner may need that antenna to be connected for the circuit to function properly.

If you are using the scanner to listen to your local Fire Dispatch there can be days when there isn't anything happening.

Another problem could be that your local Dispatch has moved over to a new Digital System and your scanner isn't equipped to recieve that System.

Hi,
Try these instructions from Wiki.answers

Turn on unit.
Press MANUAL button.
Press MANUAL button again to select the channel you want to program. Note the channel in the display. If there is a hyphenated symbol in the upper left corner the channel has been locked out. Press the LOCKOUT button once to remove the symbol or press the LOCKOUT button to lock a channel out. To find out if there is a frequency programed into that channel, press the PREVIEW button. Each digit of the frequency that is stored in memory will be displayed in the LED display. To program a new frequency into that channel, simply press the digits of the frequency you want, including the decimal point. Press the "E" keypad key to enter it into memory. If you get a "E" displayed in the LED display, the frequency was entered wrong, is not a valid frequency or is out of range for the scanner. Last but least, the scanner is not working properly. If the channel is active, (communications going over it) set SQUELCH to higher number, until you hear the communications or just noise. To set the SQUELCH, select a channel that has only noise and turn it down to the point the noise disappears. You make have to readjust it to your liking. Once you have the channels programed you can select the SCAN button to listen to all the channels or select the MANUAL button to listen to just one channel. If there are channels that you don't want to hear during the scan mode, go to MANUAL and select the channel you don't want to hear and press LOCKOUT button. Then press SCAN again it will only scan channels you want to hear.

Hope this helps.

simply your scanner range is from 77 to 90 mhz. you can not listen to any higher frequencies than that.

The service may not be available in your area. Make sure the headphones are connected to the player when searching for radio stations: Here's pg 15 of the user manual:

FM Radio (if applicable)
The Sansa
®
player includes an integrated FM radio for listening to live broadcast FM
stations. Please note that the FM Radio function may not be available in your region.
Listening to FM Radio
To listen to live broadcast FM station, follow these steps:
1. Select FM Radio from the Main Menu.
2. A radio frequency menu will appear.
3. Press |<< or >>| to adjust and search for the desired frequency, or select
preset by pressing Select.
4. For fast search, press and hold the |<< or >>| buttons.