You might check your Favorites List and see if in the Options tab you have Location Control set to "Yes". (It sounds like you do not.)
Having Location Control set to Yes ensures only Sites and Departments that are within the Range limits, are active. Everything else is "turned off". If the scanner is scanning all 230+ sites, which is what happens with Location Control "No", a lot of time is wasted. The scanner runs through all sites, even those too far away, looking for control channel activity, but won't receive anything. While the scanner is wasting this time, there could be transmissions going on that are not received because the correct tower isn't active.
Also, if all you have selected for a Department is NCSHP Troop F Newton, once you get more than 65 miles (plus whatever global range value you have programmed) from the center of the Troop F service area, the scanner will turn off Troop F. If you have no other Departments "active" or in range, you could see the "Nothing to Scan" message.
So if it was me, I'd be sure to have something like the statewide mutual aid or interoperability Department in the "mix" so there will always be something active, even though little traffic is heard. If NCSHP is in your interest list, have all those Departments for all troops programmed. That way as you move from one troop area to another, the section will "activate" and "deactivate" troops accordingly. (When you get back home to Troop F, that will be the only one active, unless you happen to be right on the line between two troops.)
When you use the Full Database, it is kind of, sort of like having a huge Favorites List with all known frequencies, etc., programmed, but it has Location Control set to Yes. So it is getting current location information from the GPS and making adjustments to turn things on and off as your location changes. (If no GPS is involved, the scanner will use the location associated with the zip code you enter.)
