There is a good chance i'm just an idiot but I am still having no luck at all. I tried several of the frequencies from the databases above never picked up anything.
When I was at the airport I did use the preprogramed frequencies for aircraft. I was parked less than 200 yards from one of the towers and 50 yards from the runway, still got nothing.
Does the bank i'm in make a difference in searching, there is an option between direct and bank?
If you were out at
Founders Plaza, and did not pick up anything either using the preprogrammed aircraft search, or by trying the airport frequencies
here by entering them directly, then I'd suspect a problem with the scanner. You should have heard quite a bit of traffic out there, whether out at the plaza, or, from your description, in one of the other parking lots. The bank you use should make no difference, unless the unit is defective.
Try turning the squelch knob all the way to the end stop. At one end or the other (not familiar enough with that model to tell you whether full clockwise or counter-clockwise is squelch off), you should hear static sound. From the static sound, turn the knob just enough that it quits. If you never get any sound, the unit is probably defective (I am assuming fresh batteries, right?). [Also try this with an earphone or headset, just in case the speaker in the scanner is the issue, but the receiver still works. Long shot, but costs nothing to try.]
Besides a defective scanner, the antenna could be bad, but that close to the runways, you probably could hear
something with no antenna at all. You should still get a little static noise, even with no antenna.
While you could send the unit in for repair (if defective), the standard repair rate of about $60, plus shipping, would be close to the cost for a new similar, later model scanner. If you also want to be able to monitor Coppell PD/FD, or most of the other neighboring cities (Lewisville, Grapevine, Carrollton, among others), you'd need a trunk-tracking scanner.
