Some people could think that their squelch is broken. However, if the transmissions are repeated, the signal is always strong when you are close to the tower. It might sound very weak and staticy, but the true signal is the repeater's. So, if you turn your squelch the whole way to the right, you will still get the strong repeater's signal. Don't think that your scanner is broken...just do research to see where your repeaters are and then it will tell you if the repeaters' signals are weak or it is just the radio before it goes to the repeater.