Hi. I'm new to scanning myself and have found the best of learning is to
tinker with the options, read the manual and get hold of a database with
up-to-date frequencies.

Scanning for frequencies can be very hit and miss, so entering known
frequencies into your scanner's channel memories will make huge difference.
(It easy to scan a channel of frequencies rather than a band of
frequencies!). By the way, how you organise your frequencies in the channel
memories is down to personal taste, but I have mine organised by type of
service and location.

Here in the UK this frequency database http://www.mckernan.it/proma/ is
very useful.

Also, an antenna upgrade is often very worthwhile. In the 3 weeks since I've
had my scanner I've purchased a centre loaded telescopic whip and a discone.
The whip makes a noticable difference and the discone mounted in my loft
brings in transmissions very load and very clear.

In general, the web is a very good source. There should be a yahoo group you
can join for your area/state/country, where folks share frequencies and
hints on using your particular model.

Hope this helps.

Rich